alifornia 

Atonal 

jility 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


THE    OLD    HUNDREDTH 


PSALM     TUNE, 


WITH   SPECIMENS. 


BY    THE 


REV.  W.  H.  HAVERGAL,  M.  A., 

RECTOR    OF    ST.    NICHOLAS,    AND    HONORARY    CANON,    •WORCESTER. 


WITH  A  PREFATORY  NOTE 
BY  RT.  REV.  J.  M.  WAI2HV RIGHT,  D.  D., 

BISHOP     OF     NEW     YORK. 


NEW  YORK: 
MASON  BROTHERS. 

1854. 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  iu  the  year  1854,  by 

M  A  SO  N    B  II  O  T  II  E  R  S, 
In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  Southern  District  of  New  York. 


STEREOTYPED    BY  PRINTED    BY 

THOMAS  B.  SMITH,  JOHN  A.   GRAY 

216  William  Street.  87  Cliff  St. 


Music 
Library 


PREFATORY  NOTE, 

THERE  is  probably  no  musical  composition, 
with  the  exception  of  the  ancient  Ambrosian 
and  Gregorian  tones,  that  has  been  so  univer- 
sally sung  by  worshipping  assemblies,  as  the 
Old  Hundredth  Psalm  Tune,  and  certainly  none 
so  familiar  to  the  e.ar  of  Protestant  communi- 
ties. It  has  proved  equally  acceptable  to  the 
instructed  and  the  uninstructed  musical  taste. 
When  in  any  congregation,  through  ignorance 
or  bad  taste,  it  has  been  for  a  time  laid  aside  to 
make  way  for  more  modern  yet  more  feeble 
tunes,  it  has  been  taken  up  again,  after  the  in- 
termission, with  increased  interest ;  and  as  its 
strains  have  been  given  out  by  the  organ,  and 
its  first  tones  raised  by  the  choir  or  the  clerk, 
devout  affections  have  been  roused,  and  voices 
which  had  been  long  silent  have  swelled  the  loud 
chorus  of  praise.  It  has  been  known  in  this 

836573 


IV  PREFATORY   NOTE. 

country  from  its  first  settlement.  It  was  in  all 
probability  used  by  the  earliest  Church  of  Eng- 
land missionaries  in  Virginia,  and  it  was  cer- 
tainly one  of  the  songs  of  the  Puritan  fathers  of 
New  England,  since  we  find  it  in  Ains worth's 
Psalms,  the  book  of  Psalmody  which  they 
brought  from  Holland.  It  was,  therefore,  one 
of  the  tunes  to  which  the  wild  forests  in  this 
new  world  were  first  made  vocal  with  the  praise 
of  God.  Nor  was  its  use  confined  to  the  early 
European  settlers ;  its  lofty  strains  were  taught 
by  them  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  forest  they 
found  here ;  it  was  sung  by  the  new-made  con- 
verts of  the  missionary  John  Elliot,  and  in  the 
various  missionary  settlements  amongst  the  In- 
dians it  may  yet  be  heard. 

The  history  of  such  a  composition  must  be  a 
matter  of  interest  not  only  to  the  musician,  but 
to  all  who  have  the  slightest  taste  for  musical 
art,  and  especially  to  those  who  take  delight  in 
the  service  of  song  in  the  house  of  the  Lord. 
Mr.  Havergal  has  performed  a  most  acceptable 
work  in  his  curious  researches.  He  has  care- 
fully hunted  up,  probably,  everything  that  can 
be  discovered  relating  to  its  origin,  and  has 


PREFATORY   NOTE.  V 

established  its  authorship  as  satisfactorily  as 
can  now  be  done.  We  think  it  will  be  gener- 
ally conceded  that  William  Franc  must  hereafter 
be  entitled  to  the  credit  of  composing  this  most 
remarkable  of  all  metrical  tunes.  But  the  result 
of  Mr.  Havergal's  researches  is  perhaps  of  more 
practical  importance  considered  with  reference 
to  the  form  of  the  tune.  This,  it  seems,  has 
been  greatly  changed,  and  hence  the  heaviness, 
and  almost  tediousness,  which  sometimes  attends 
its  performance.  Could  its  old  rhythm  be  re- 
stored, the  tune  would  more  fully  accord  with 
the  joyful  character  of  the  psalm  by  which  it  is 
called,  and  would  not  fail  to  be  even  more  pop- 
ular and  useful  than  heretofore. 

The  most  estimable  author  of  this  work,  a 
clergyman  of  the  Church  of  England,  is  well 
known  in  the  United  States  as  well  as  in  Eng- 
land, for  his  devotion  to  the  cause  of  sacred 
music ;  and  no  one  in  our  day  has  contributed 
more  than  he  has  done  to  the  revival  of  a  taste 
for  pure  ecclesiastical  melodies  and  harmonies. 
His  "  Old  Church  Psalmody,"  published  in  Lon- 
don, is  probably  the  best  book  of  the  kind  which 
has  appeared  since  the  days  of  Eavenscroft,  and 


VI  PREFATORY    NOTE. 

it  is  gradually  doing  its  work  of  reform.  We 
learn  from  Mr.  Mason's  "Musical  Letters  from 
Abroad,"  that  Mr.  Havergal's  views  of  church 
music  are  happily  illustrated  in  his  own  church. 
"The  chanting  was  done,"  says  Mr.  M.,  "by  the 
whole  congregation,  and  the  responding  was 
between  the  occupants  of  the  lower  floor  and 
those  of  the  galleries ;  but  the  song  was  univer- 
sal, men,  women  and  children  uniting  harmo- 
nious voices."  The  tunes  to  which  the  hymns 
were  sung,  he  tells  us,  were  of  "  the  old  eccle- 
siastical class,"  in  a  similar  rhythm  to  that 
which  Mr.  H.  has  shown  to  be  the  original 
of  the  Old  Hundredth  Psalm  Tune,  and  were 
sung  in  a  quick  time,  or  "  as  fast  as  propriety 
would  allow  the  enunciation  of  the  words."  We 
further  learn  from  him  that  there  were  but  "one 
or  two  interludes  introduced  in  a  psalm  of  five 
stanzas ;"  and  that  "  these  were  very  short,  not 
more  than  about  two  measures,  or  the  length 
of  the  last  line  of  a  common  metre  tune."  That 
the  evil  custom  which  so  extensively  prevails 
in  this  country,  of  long  interludes  between  the 
stanzas,  alike  foreign  to  the  psalm  and  the  tune, 
and  unfavorable  to  devotion,  should  be  abol- 


PREFATORY   NOTE.  Vll 

ished,  and  that  the  congregation  should  not  be 
kept  standing  to  be  amused  by  the  tones  of 
the  organ,  or  by  the  skill  of  the  performer,  and 
thus  be  disturbed  or  interrupted  in  their  wor- 
ship, is  most  devoutly  to  be  desired.  A  pass- 
ing cadence  of  a  few  chords  connecting  the 
stanzas  may  be  useful,  but  more  than  this  is 
rather  a  hinderance  than  a  help  to  the  religious 
effect  of  the  psalmody. 

Happy  will  it  be  for  the  Church  when  a 
more  pure  and  devotional  style  of  song  shall 
be  restored,  and  the  light  and  powerless  tunes 
now  so  often  heard  shall  give  way  to  those 
which  are  better  adapted  to  awaken  religious 
feeling,  and  which  are  more  in  accordance  with 
the  dignity  of  public  worship.  We  most  cor- 
dially commend  Mr.  Havergal's  interesting  vol- 
ume on  the  History  of  the  Old  Hundredth  Psalm 
Tune,  as  one  means  of  promoting  a  reformation 
so  much  needed. 


JNO.  M.  WAINWKIGHT. 

YOBK,  April,  1854. 


THE 


OLD  HUNDREDTH  PSALM  TUNE, 


THE  PSALTERS  of  Sternhold  and  Hopkins  were,  for 
a  long  time,  usually  printed  "with  apt  notes  to  sing 
withal."  Some  of  those  notes  or  tunes  were  of  English 
origin ;  but  the  majority  were  brought  from  the  Con- 
tinent The  intercourse  of  kindred  Reformers,  and 
the  return  of  exiled  confessors,  contributed  to  the  en- 
largement of  the  little  store  of  tunes,  which  sufficed, 
when  metrical  psalmody  first  came  into  use. 

The  number  of  the  tunes,  and  the  tunes  themselves, 
were  not  the  same  in  all  editions  of  the  psalter.  Fre- 
quent changes  were  made  by  succeeding  editors ;  so 
that,  between  the  psalters  of  the  early  part  of  the  reign 
of  Queen  Elizabeth,  and  those  of  the  next  two  reigns, 
there  is  a  considerable  difference.  The  general  num- 
ber, however,  of  the  tunes,  which  were  printed,  on  the 
establishment  of  the  Reformation,  was  forty.  But,  of 
,the  entire  number,  only  one  is  now  commonly  known. 
That  one  is  the  tune  to  the  hundredth  psalm.  Some 
of  the  rest,  particularly  "  the  old  eighty-first,  and  the 
old  hundred  and  thirteenth,"  as  they  were  called,  con- 
tinued in  partial  use  till  the  beginning  of  the  present 


10  THE    OLD    HUNDREDTH    PSALM    TUNE. 

century ;  but  modern  trash  has  consigned  them  to  ob- 
livion ;  and  the  whole  forty,  save  only  this  one,  have 
(till  very  lately  at  least)  ceased  to  be  seen  or  heard. 
Happily,  in  almost  every  parish  of  the  British  Isles, 
this  tune  has  continued  to  be  known  and  admired.*  It 
would  be  difficult,  perhaps,  except  in  Ireland,  to  find 
any  parish  in  which  it  is  positively  unknown.  Its  sur- 
vival, therefore,  amidst  the  oblivion  of  so  -many  excel- 
lent tunes,  and  its  universal  popularity,  constitute  a 
fair  proof  of  its  intrinsic  merit,  and  of  its  genuine  suit- 
ableness for  divine  worship. 

To  the  devout  Christian,  such  a  tune  cannot  be  other- 
wise than  deeply  interesting.  The  thought  of  its  hav- 
ing been  sung,  for  many  an  age,  "in  the  great  congre- 
gation," and  of  its  having  formed  the  solace  of  many  a 
heart  in  the  cottage  or  the  closet,  must  always  add  a 
hallowed  pleasure  to  its  use.  The  consideration,  too, 
that  Protestant  martyrs  and  exiled  confessors  have 
listened  to  its  strains  or  joined  in  them,  may  well  give 
an  exalted  and  even  an  affecting  energy,  to  our  modu- 
lation of  them. 

THE  NAME  OF  THE  TUNE,  as  The  Old  Hundredth 
Psalm  Tune,  is  peculiar  to  England.  In  foreign 
psaltersy  especially  in  the  French  and  the  Dutch,  the 
tune  is  set  to  the  hundred  and  thirty-fourth  psalm. 
From  the  days  of  the  Reformation  to  the  end  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  it  was  commonly  called  in  Eng- 
land The  Hundredth  Psalm  Tune ;  but  upon  the  publi- 
cation of  Tate  and  Brady's  new  version,  its  present 

*  It  is  also  universally  sung  in  the  United  States  of  America. 


THE   OLD   HUNDREDTH   PSALM   TUNE.  11 

title  came  into  use.  About  a  century  or  more  ago, 
it  became  the  fashion  to  call  it  "SAVOY,"  and  under 
that  name  it  appears  in  many  collections  of  a  subse- 
quent date.  The  fashion  took  its  rise  from  a  vague 
fancy  respecting  its  Savoyard  origin;  but,  older  cus- 
tom and  wiser  belief  have  given  prevalence  to  the  ex- 
isting appellation.  In  America,  an  inelegant  variation 
is  made,  and  the  tune  is  commonly  called  "  Old  Hun- 
dred." Why  such  a  departure  from  lingual  custom,  and 
orthographic  propriety  should  be  made,  does  not  appear. 

THE  TEXT  OF  THE  TUNE,  though  never  formally  dis- 
puted, has  not  always  been  uniform.  And  yet,  in  all 
the  older  versions,  the  variations  have  been,  not  in  the 
tune  itself,  but  in  the  time  of  its  notes.  Apart  from 
palpable  misprints,  the  melodic  progression  seems  to 
have  been  correctly  preserved ;  only  a  somewhat 
altered  character  was  given  to  it,  according  as  certain 
notes  in  it  were  made  long  or  short. 

All  the  earliest  copies  of  the  tune  contain  a  nicely- 
poised  blending  of  long  and  short  notes ;  but  later 
versions  present  it  in  notes  of  equal  length.  Towards 
the  beginning  of  the  last  century,  a  wanton  modifica- 
tion of  the  time  of  the  tune  was  made  on  the  Conti- 
nent. In  1730,  John  Sebastian  Bach  printed  the  tune 
in  triple  measure ;  but  whether  the  conceit  originated 
with  that  superlative  musician,  or  with  some  one  before 
him,  is  not  quite  clear.  Since  that  date,  several  Con- 
tinental editors,  both  Roman  Catholic  and  Protestant, 
have  adopted  the  unwarrantable  modification ;  but  no 
English  collection  of  any  repute  contains  it. 


12  THE    OLD    HUNDREDTH    PSALM    TUNE. 

The  earliest  copy  of  the  tune,  so  far  as  is  known, 
stands  in  a  Genevan  edition  of  a  portion  of  the  English 
Psalter,  preserved  as  an  article  of  rare  value  in  the 
Library  of  St.  Paul's  Cathedral,  London.  The  date  of 
the  Psalter  is  1561.*  The  tune  is  therein  given  to 
Sternhold's  version  of  the  Hundredth  Psalm,  thus : 

PSALM  C. 


-&- 


-& — <s> — o  & 


-&-& 


Q     ^      •£}      Q 


With  this  earliest  known  copy  of  the  tune,  all  the 
subsequent  copies  of  the  foreign  psalters  completely 
agree,  and  most  of  our  early  English  psalters  agree  also, 
with  the  exception  of  a  slight  alteration  in  the  last 
strain,  f 

The  first  edition  of  Sternhold's  Psalter,  with  notes, 

*  The  real  facts  of  the  case  are  thus  stated  by  the  late  Kev.  K.  H. 
Barham,  when  Librarian  of  St.  Paul's.  "  The  name  of  Geneva  is  not 
on  the  Psalter  which  occupies  the  middle  space  in  a  volume,  consist- 
ing of  a  '  Forme  of  Prayers,  and  Ministration  of  the  Sacraments,' 
and  '  Calvin's  Catechism,'  both  of  which  have  that  place  on  their 
title  pages,  with  the  same  date,  in  the  same  numerals  (MDLXI.) 
The  whole  character  of  the  type  is  the  same,  and  I  have  not  the 
slightest  doubt  that  they  were  printed  by  '  Zacharie  Durand,'  whose 
name  stands  on  both  the  last-mentioned  works  above  the  date." 

t  In  1561,  John  Day,  of  London,  printed  a  Dutch  Psalter,  for  the 
use  of  the  refugees  from  the  Low  Countries.  The  title  of  the  copy 
in  the  British  Museum  is,  "  Hondert  Psalmen  David's,"  octavo,  Lon- 
don, 1561,  and  the  «  Press  Mark  "  is  "  1220.  c.  39."  Although  the 
first  strain  of  the  tune  occurs  in  several  psalms,  the  tune  itself  is  not 
in  the  volume. 


THE    OLD    HUNDREDTH   PSALM   TUNE.  13 

was  published  in  1556.  It  did  not,  however,  comprise 
more  than  a  third  of  the  Psalms,  nor  contain  either  the 
words  or  the  tune  of  the  Hundredth  Psalm.*  It  was 
not,  however,  till  the  year  1562  that  John  Day  printed 
a  complete  version  of  Sternhold  and  Hopkins's  Psalter, 
"with  apt  notes  to  sing  withal."  Though  many  au- 
thors assert  the  printing  of  this  psalter,  and  record  its 
title,  yet  others  of  equal  repute  altogether  disbelieve 
its  ever  having  existed.  They  are  of  opinion  that  it 
was  not  till  1563  that  the  first  complete  English  psalter 
was  printed.  The  late  Mr.  Lea  Wilson  strongly  held 
this  opinion.  He  possessed  the  only  known  copy  of 
this  last-named  psalter,  which  is  now  in  the  possession 
of  Mr.  W.  Pickering,  the  distinguished  publisher. 
But,  as  Sir  John  Hawkins  not  only  gives  the  title  of 
the  Psalter  of  1562,  but  copies  several  tunes  from  it, 
there  can  be  no  reasonable  doubt  of  its  once  having 
existed.  Where  his  copy  now  is,  or  where,  indeed, 
any  copy  is  to  be  found,  the  author,  after  extensive 
and  diligent  search,  is  unable  to  ascertain.  None  of 
our  great  libraries  possess  it,  nor  does  Dr.  H.  Cotton, 
in  the  second  edition  of  his  "  List  of  Editions  of  the 
Bible,  and  the  Psalms  in  English,"  give  any  clue  to  the 
finding  of  it.  It  is  pretty  certain,  however,  that  if 
there  was  a  Psalter  of  1562,  it  did  not  contain  the  Old 
Hundredth  Psalm  tune,  not  only  because  Sir  John 
Hawkins  had  seen  no  copy  of  it  earlier  than  1577,  but 
because  it  is  not  to  be  found  in  Mr.  Lea  Wilson's  copy 
of  1563.f 

*  A  copy  of  this  Psalter  is  preserved  in  the  Bodleian  Library. 

t  Singular   however   to  say,  a  writer  in  an  American  periodical, 


14  THE    OLD    HUNDREDTH    PSALM   TUNE. 

As  no  complete  edition  of  the  English  Psalter  is 
known  to  have  been  printed  in  1564,  there  can  be 
little  doubt  that  the  first  appearance  of  the  tune  in 
Sternhold  and  Hopkins's  Psalter  was  in  the  edition  of 
1565,  of  which  edition  a  beautiful  copy  is  preserved  in 
the  British  Museum.  The  version  of  the  tune  in  that 
copy  is  precisely  the  same  as  the  version  in  the  Ge- 
nevan copy  belonging  to  St.  Paul's  Library. 

Tracing  the  tune  from  its  first  known  appearance, 
in  1561,  it  is  next  to  be  seen  in  a  remarkably  beautiful 
copy  of  the  Genevan  Psalter,  printed  "Par  Estienne 
Anastase,  1562,"  now  in  possession  of  the  author,  but 
which  appears  formerly  to  have  belonged  to  a  Duke 
of  Gordon.  The  version  is  again  identical  with  its 
prototype,  already  given. 

But,  in  the  year  1563  was  printed  by  John  Day,  of 
London,  the  most  valuable  and  interesting  collection 
of  church-tunes  which  has  hitherto  come  to  light.  It 
goes  far  to  settle  what  may  be  regarded  as  the  true 
English  version  of  the  tune.  The  work  itself  is  in  the 
library  of  Brazen  Nose  College,*  and  consists  of  four 


("The  New  England  Puritan,"  Boston,  April  19,  1844,)  in  the 
course  of  an  elaborate  article  upon  psalmody,  not  only  speaks  with 
great  confidence  of  the  certainty  of  the  Psalter  of  1562,  but  actually 
gives  a  copy  of  the  tune  as  contained  in  it.  His  copy,  however,  of 
the  tune  is  so  palpably  spurious,  and  the  tenor  of  his  remarks  so 
vague  and  unsatisfactory,  that  he  must  be  considered  as  either  having 
fallen  into  some  great  mistake,  or  as  having  written  a  convenient 
fable. 

*  This  is  now,  perhaps,  the  only  perfect  copy  in  England.  Dr. 
Rimbault  is  said  to  have  sold  his  copy  to  an  American  library. 
There  is  an  imperfect  copy,  or  rather  two  of  the  four  parts  of  it,  in 
the  British  Museum.  There  are  also  some  odd  numbers  of  it  in  the 
Bodleian. 


THE    OLD    HUNDREDTH    PSALM   TUNE.  15 

separate  small  oblong  volumes.  From  being  cata- 
logued as  a  psalter,  without  any  reference  to  the  tunes, 
it  escaped  the  notice  of  all  our  musical  historians  and 
antiquarians.  For  want  of  acquaintance  with  it,  both 
Dr.  Burney  and  Sir  John  Hawkins  fell  into  many 
groundless  surmises  and  positive  mistakes.  The  dis- 
covery of  the  work,  as  a  musical  curiosity,  is  fairly 
attributable  to  the  author's  elder  son,  the  Rev.  H.  E. 
Havergal,  when,  some  years  ago,  seeking  for  old  copies 
of  the  tune  under  investigation. 

In  this  work,  which  was  probably  the  first  of  its 
kind  in  England,  and  which  may  be  called  Day's  Mu- 
sical Psalter  of  1563,  the  tune  is  printed  in  four  parts, 
but,*  what  is  rather  singular,  it  is  not  ranged  in  its 
numerical  position  with  the  other  psalms,  f  This  is 
not  only  remarkable  in  itself,  but  confirmatory  of  the 
fact  of  the  tune  not  being  inserted  in  the  Psalter  of 
1563,  for,  except  on  the  surmise  that  the  words  and 
the  tune  were  not  at  first  fully  established,  it  is  difficult 
to  account  for  their  being  placed  otherwise  than  in 
numerical  order,  especially  as  the  same  printer  was 

*  Historians  mention  "  Parson's  Psalms,"  but  no  copy  of  any  vol- 
ume bearing  that  designation  has  yet  been  discovered.  It  is,  there- 
fore, not  improbable  that  this  work  of  Day's  was  popularly  known  as 
"  Parson's  Psalms,"  because  William  Parsons  was  the  chief  musician 
of  the  volume,  and  most  likely  its  editor. 

f  It  may  be  worthy  of  notice  that  in  an  edition  of  Sternhold  and 
Hopkins's  Psalter,  printed  by  John  Crespin,  in  Geneva,  in  1569,  and 
now  in  the  possession  of  the  Rev.  T.  Lathbury,  of  Bristol,  the  tune 
and  words  are  placed  among  the  introductory  hymns  of  the  psalter, 
after  the  Venite,  which  circumstance  goes  to  show  that  the  long  metre 
version  of  the  Hundredth  Psalm  was  not  at  first  preferred  to  the  com- 
mon metre  version,  which  is  still  found  in  the  old  psalters. 


16 


THE  OLD  HUNDREDTH  PSALM  TUNE. 


employed  for  both  works.  In  this  musical  psalter  the 
melody  of  the  tune  is  precisely  the  same  as  in  the  ver- 
sion of  it  first  given,  with  the  exception  of  the  second 
and  third  notes  of  the  last  strain  being  minims  instead 
of  semibreves.  That  strain  consequently  sings  thus : 


It ZL. •"-*       O 


Reduced,  therefore,  to  more  modern  shape  and  no- 
tation, the  tune  assumes  this  standard  form  : 


The  tune  thus  slightly  modified,  so  as  to  equalize  the 
time  of  all  its  strains,  seems  to  have  been  regarded  by 
Ravenscroft  as  its  most  correct,  if  not  its  strictly  orig- 
inal form ;  for  after  this  model  he  printed  it  in  1621 ; 
and  all  subsequent  editors  of  our  old  Church  Psalters 
followed  his  decision. 

The  symmetry  of  the  tune  thus  modelled  is  remark- 
ably beautiful.  Had  that  beauty  been  discerned  or 
even  suspected,  it  might  have  saved  the  tune  itself 
from  the  violence  which  has  been  practised  upon  it.  A 
few  remarks  may  suffice  for  developing  its  peculiarities. 

Among  all  the  psalter  tunes  there  is  not  one  which 
is  formed  after  the  model  of  this  tune.  In  no  collec- 


THE  OLD  HUNDREDTH  PSALM  TUNE.         1^ 

tion  of.  tunes,  whether  foreign  or  domestic,  has  the 
writer  of  these  lines  ever  discovered  even  one  which 
resembles  it  in  point  of  rhythmic  structure. 

Each  of  its  four  strains  comprises  four  long  and  four 
short  notes,  uniformly  but  peculiarly  disposed. 

The  first  note  of  each  strain,  to  suit  a  line  of  eight 
syllables,  is  long,  the  next  four  short,  and  the  remain- 
ing three  long. 

But,  the  three  concluding  long  notes  of  each  strain 
seem  to  bear  a  certain  symmetrical  melodic  relation  to 
each  other. 

In  the  first  strain,  they  rise  in  close  succession ;  in 
the  second  they  fall. 

In  the  third  and  fourth  strain,  precisely  the  same 
alternation  is  kept  up. 

The  peculiar  progression  of  the  long  and  short  notes 
in  each  strain,  may  be  compared  to  the  progress  of  a 
boat  when  breasting  a  succession  of  billows  at  sea. 
First,  poised  for  a  moment  on  the  top  of  a  wave,  it 
rapidly  descends ;  then,  steadily  labors  up ;  is  poised 
again,  and  so  proceeds. 

THE  VARIATIONS  OF  THE  TUNE,  through  either  the 
carelessness  or  caprice  of  editors,  have  been  consider- 
able. From  the  middle  of  the  reign  of  Elizabeth  to 
the  date  of  Ravenscroft's  "  Booke  of  Psalmes,"  Anno 
Dom.  1621,  sundry  departures  from  the  standard  model 
were  made.  The  prevailing  variation  was  that  which 
retained  the  triple  succession  of  long  notes  only  in  the 
last  strain :  though  that  which  made  the  notes  of  equal 
shortness,  except  the  first  and  the  last  of  each  strain, 


18 


THE  OLD  HUNDREDTH  PSALM  TUNE. 


was  certainly  very  common.  The  following  version 
was  several  times  printed  by  John  Day,  before  the 
year  1590 ;  and  became,  as  before  intimated,  a  rather 
common  version  with  musicians.  It  is  next  to  what 
may  be  called  Ravenscroft's  version,  in  point  of  sym- 
metry : 


m 


::- 


?—&—&— 


~- 


-a— r- 


Still,  the  prevalent  variation  from  the  standard  ver- 
sion was  that  which  the  American  writer  in  the  New 
England  Puritan  professes  to  give  from  the  English 
psalter  of  1562  ;  and  which  Day  printed  or  reprinted, 
apparently  for  the  first  time  in  1575,  both  in  a  quarto 
and  an  octavo  psalter.  It  is  this : 


3 


1 


&— & 


-&—& 


& ^ 

/r^ j /2 ^~) 

c_^  (  ^..^ 


- — &—&. — t- Q    [i 


This  is  the  version  which  William  Damon  used  in 
1579,  and  which  Douland  harmonized  for  Este's  psalter 
in  1592,  and  again,  as  there  is  reason  to  believe,  in 
1611.  It  is  found,  also,  in  other  psalters  of  a  later  date. 
It  is  adopted  by  Henry  Ainsworth  in  his  curious  ver- 
sion of  the  Psalms,  printed  by  Giles  Thorp,  at  Amster- 


THE    OLD    HUNDREDTH   PSALM   TUNE.  19 

dam,  in  1612.  It  further  appears,  after  Ravenscroft's 
time,  in  King  James'  Psalter  printed  in  1636,  by 
Thomas  Harper,  at  London. 

But  a  far  greater  variation,  and  even  at  an  early 
period,  was  made  in  several  psalters,  by  the  very 
parties  who  printed  the  better  versions.  In  two 
psalters  by  Day,  one  in  1583  and  another  in  1584 
(Bodleian  Library,  and  Rev.  J.  Metcalfe,  Canterbury), 
the  tune  presents  this  vitiated  form  :  ' 


A  similar  corruption  is  printed  by  Windet  in  a 
psalter  of  1599  (Rev.  J.  Metcalfe,  Canterbury) ;  and 
again  in  1609  (Bodleian  Library)  ;  and  also  by  an 
anonymous  printer  in  1617. 

From  these  specimens,  and  it  would  not  be  difficult 
to  multiply  them,  it  is  perfectly  plain  that  the  practice 
of  writing  and  printing  all  psalm  tunes  in  notes  of 
equal  length,  did  not  originate,  as  alleged  by  Mr. 
Hullah,  with  "honest  John  Playford."*  In  fact  he  did 
nothing  half  so  bad  as  Day  and  Windet  did,  nearly  a 
century  before  he  printed  a  note.  The  version  which 

*  "  To  him,  as  far  as  I  can  trace"  (says  Mr. Hullah,  in  the  Preface 
to  his  Psalter,  p.  xiv.),  is  due  exclusively  the  invention  of  that  barbar- 
ous and  monotonous  manner  of  singing  psalms, — the  making  all  notes 
of  the  same  length" — How  careful  should  living  editors  be  of  making 
grave  charges  against  deceased  worthies  ! 


20  THE    OLD    HUNDREDTH    PSALM    TUNE. 

he  followed,  and  which,  for  distinction's  sake,  may  be 
called  Playford's  version,  as  everybody  afterwards  fol- 
lowed him,  is  found  as  far  back  as,  at  least,  1588,  in  a 
psalter  printed  by  the  assigns  of  Richard  Day,  Lon- 
don. It  is  found,  also,  in  one  of  1594,  quarto,  London 
(Bodleian  Library) ;  and  in  another  of  1595,  by  John 
Windet. 

From  what  has  been  adduced,  it  is  clear  that  the 
earlier  printers  or  editors  of  our  English  psalters  were 
not  at  all  choice  in  selecting  authentic  copies  of  the 
Old  Hundredth  Psalm  Tune.  They  seem  to  have 
printed,  almost  at  random,  first  one  version  and  then 
another.  Sometimes,  though  not  frequently,  they 
printed  even  the  earliest,  or  Genevan  version;  for  a 
psalter  of  John  Day's  in  1575,  and  another  by  Henrie 
Denham  in  1588,  contain  it. 

The  inaccuracy  of  many  psalters  is  very  .great.  The 
press,  in  some  instances,  can  hardly  be  said  to  have 
been  corrected.  Most  of  the  errors  arise  from  a  mere 
inversion  of  the  metallic  block  in  which  the  note  was 
fixed;  so  that,  by  turning  the  page  upside  down,  the 
true  reading  will  appear.  One  common  error  is  the 
dropping  or  elevating  the  note  exactly  a  third  out  of 
place.  Hence,  in  most  cases  of  deviation  from  the  true 
reading,  it  is  easy  to  discern  what  was  intended ;  for 
the  printed  note  is  so  inconsistent  with  the  melodic 
progression,  and  so  disconnected  with  either  the  note 
"before  or  the  note  after,  that  the  error  well  nigh  cor- 
rects itself. 

In  a  small  copy  of  Sternhold  and  Hopkins's  Psalter, 
printed  at  Dort,  in  1601,  (Douce's  Collection  in  Bod- 


THE    OLD    HUNDREDTH   PSALM    TUNE. 


21 


leian  Library)  the  tune  presents  such  a  remarkable 
variation  in  the  second  strain,  that  it  can  hardly  be  re- 
garded as  an  oversight.  It  is  printed  thus  : 


Such  deviations  from  the  original  melody  are  not 
common.  This  specimen  is  unique.  No  printer  fol- 
lowed it ;  nor  was  the  tune  in  popular  use  affected  by 
it.  Indeed,  it  was  not  till  the  middle  of  the  last  cen- 
tury, and  that  in  England  only,  that  the  melody  suf- 
fered any  perversion.*  The  Continental  copies  have 
preserved  the  progression  of  that  melody  with  singular 
fidelity.  The  modern  Parisian  psalters  present  the 
tune  in  triple  time,  but  the  tune  itself  is  otherwise  un- 
changed. Our  English  singers,  however,  have  per- 
verted the  last  strain  of  the  tune ;  and  the  perversion 
is  so  established,  that  editor  after  editor,  of  a  certain 
class,  has  printed  it,  in  full  belief  of  its  authenticity. 
As  far  as  can  be  ascertained,  the  earliest  printed  copy 
of  this  perversion  is  found  in  Fox's  edition  of  Playford's 
tunes  in  1757.  The  last  strain  is  therein  given  thus: 


*  Dr.  Crotch  twice  or  thrice  published  the  tune  with  a  toeve  at 
the  end  of  every  strain;  but  no  psalter  furnishes  authority  for  the 
elongation. 


22  THE    OLD    HUNDREDTH    PSALM    TUNE. 

In  this  alteration  of  the  strain  there  is  nothing  essen- 
tially wrong,  or  offensive  to  propriety.  In  fact,  as  a 
melodic  phrase,  it  is  as  good  as  the  original ;  only  it  is 
not  the  original.  In  a  class  of  tunes,  the  compass  of 
which  is  necessarily  very  limited,  attention  to  original 
structure  is  important,  otherwise  the  composer  is  in- 
jured, the  identity  of  the  tunes  is  destroyed,  and  con. 
fusion  among  them  is  produced. 

In  the  English  psalters,  the  tune  is  invariably  printed 
in  the  key  of  F ;  and  generally  in  the  tenor  clef.  It  is 
thus  printed  in  the  oldest  copies  of  the  German 
psalters,  and  also  of  the  French,  as  may  be  seen  in 
three  octavo  editions,  printed  at  Lyons,  in  1563,  1564, 
and  1587,  and  preserved  in  the  Bodleian  Library  at 
Oxford.  It  is  similarly  printed  in  the  beautifully-fresh 
copy  of  the  same  psalter,  dated  1562,  to  which  refer- 
ence has  already  been  made. 

In  the  later  editions  of  the  French  psalter,  the  tune 
is  generally  set  a  fourth  higher,  in  the  key  of  Bb,  and 
in  the  counter-tenor  clef.  In  some  intermediate  edi- 
tions, it  is  in  C,  with  the  same  clef.  The  Dutch  psalters 
give  it  mostly  in  that  key,  and  in  that  clef.  If,  there- 
fore, the  tune  were  sung  as  printed,  the  voices  would 
be  forced  into  an  unseemly  elevation.  But  there  is 
ample  reason  for  believing  that  the  key  in  which  a 
tune,  in  these  psalters,  is  set,  is  not  always  a  correct 
guide  for  the  pitch  in  which  it  was  really  sung.  The 
precentor  or  clerk  would  be  supposed  to  have  the  reg- 
ulation of  that  matter,  and  to  settle  it  according  to  the 
state  of  the  choir,  the  capacity  of  the  congregation,  or 
the  time  of  the  service. 


THE    OLD    HUNDREDTH    PSALM    TUNE.  23 

THE  ORIGIN  OF  THE  TUNE  has  been  a  topic  of  much 
dispute.  Popular  opinion  is  divided  in  assigning  it 
principally  to  three  individuals,  viz.,  Martin  Luther, 
Claude  Goudimel,  and  William  Franc.  But,  whether 
the  tune  is  an  original  composition,  or  a  mere  adapta- 
tion, and  if  adapted,  whether  it  has  been  derived  from 
secular  or  ecclesiastical  sources,  has  never  been  the 
subject  of  definite  discussion.  As  the  writer  of  these 
remarks  has  an  hypothesis  of  his  own  to  develop,  a 
few  preliminary  observations  may  be  expedient. 

Metrical  Psalmody  was  preceded,  among  the  com- 
mon people,  by  a  sort  of  rude  hymnology.*  The 
doggerel-like  hymns  of  early  Protestants,  both  at  home 
and  abroad,  were  usually  sung  to  any  existing  melody 
which  could  be  applied  to  them.  When  the  Psalms 
began  to  be  used  in  a  metrical  form,  those  melodies 
were  transferred  to  them — but  then  the  melodies  them- 
selves were  not  generally  sacred,  but  secular  composi- 
tions. Many  of  them  were  "the  most  favorite  songs 
of  the  times,"  or  ballads,  and  even  snatches  of  more 
vulgar  strains.  Others  were  accommodations  from 
usuch  tunes  as  were  easy  to  learn  and  play  on  the 
viol,  and  other  instruments." 

As  the  Reformation  advanced,  especially  in  Ger- 
many and  Geneva,  a  better  style  of  words  was  provid- 
ed, and,  as  most  of  the  Reformers  were  skilled  in  music, 
a  better  style -of  tunes  followed.  In  Germany,  f  there- 


*  Some  early  specimens  are  extant  among  the  papers  of  Dr.  Fairfax, 
in  the  British  Museum. 

t  "  Germany  was  certainly  furnished  with  innumerable  psalmodists 
and  hymnologists,  long  before  Calvin  (who  was  born  in  1 509)  became 


24  THE    OLD    HUNDREDTH    PSALM    TUNE. 

fore,  where  metrical  psalmody  either  originated,  or 
first  assumed  the  semblance  of  perfection,  native  mu- 
sicians no  doubt  supplied  some  of  the  old  melodies. 
John  Huss  composed  a  few,  Luther  composed  more, 
but  how  many  is  very  doubtful.  John  Galliculus,  and 
probably  "Walther,  composed  others;  and  Rhau,  a 
learned  bookseller  and  musician  of  Wittemburgh,  as 
well  as  the  personal  friend  of  Galliculus,  is  said  to  have 
added  to  their  number.  Melancthon,  too,  is  mentioned 
as  one  among  the  early  contributors  to  the  stock  of 
German  chorals.  But  as  it  is  notorious  that  Luther 
was  not  over-scrupulous  about  the  adaptation  of  secular 
melodies  to  sacred  words,*  it  is  allowable  to  conjec- 
ture that  his  friends  were  also  favorable  to  it.  It, 
therefore,  is  probable  that  adaptation  was  practiced 
before  composition  was  applied.  If  so,  adaptation 
from  well-known  ecclesiastical  music  was  quite  as 
likely  as  from  secular  music.  But  there  is  no  need  to 
rest  on  probability ;  for  it  is  a  fact  that  many  Grego- 
rian phrases  are  traceable  in  Luther's  own  tunes,  and 
in  other  Lutheran  chorals;  while  the  hymn  book  of 
the  Bohemian  Brethren,  printed  at  Ulm  in  1538,  avow- 
edly abounds  with  them.f 

the  head  of  a  sect.  He  was  but  thirty-six  when  Luther  died." — (Dr. 
Burney's  Hist,  of  Music,  vol.  iii.,  p.  35.) 

*  He  set  a  version  of  the  Lord's  Prayer  to  a  melody  which  had  been 
used  for  singing  "  Histories  in  Rhyme"  or  a  sort  of  bardic  recitation 
of  facts  and  circumstances.  Burney  and  Hawkins  quote  other  in- 
stances of  adaptation,  and  of  a  more  objectionable  character,  especially 
in  the  Eoman  Catholic  church.  If  any  of  the  German  chorals  come 
to  us  from  this  origin,  time  has  purified  them,  and  buried  those  asso- 
ciations. 

f  The  only  known  copy  of  this  most  beautifully  printed  work  is 


THE    OLD   HUNDREDTH    PSALM   TUNE.  25 

But  this  practice  of  adaptation  was  not  peculiar  to 
the  Lutheran  or  Germanic  section  of  the  Reformation. 
It  was  the  practice  also,  of  the  French  Genevan  depart- 
ment of  it.  The  tunes  in  their  psalter  present  the 
same  features  as  the  German  tunes,  while  it  is  historic- 
ally reported  that  William  Franc,  who  compiled  it, 
was  known  to  have  availed  himself  of  phrases  from 
Roman  chants,  as  well  as  national  songs. 

The  ascertaining  of  this  practice  of  adaptation  may 
help  the  investigation  of  the  origin  of  the  tune  in  ques- 
tion, but  as  popular  opinion  is  strongly  on  the  side  of 
Luther  being  the  composer  of  the  tune,  the  opinion 
itself  must  be  examined. 

1.  The  chief  ground  for  the  opinion  is  comparatively 
of  modern  date.  It  is  hardly  a  century  old;  for  it 
entirely  depends  on  a  vague  report  of  something  which 
Handel  had  been  heard  to  say.  Sir  John  Hawkins 
(Hist.  Music,  vol.  iii.,  p.  447)  states  thus:  "Mr.  Handel 
has  been  many  times  heard  to  say,  that  the  melody  of 
our  hundredth  psalm,  and  certain  other  psalm  tunes, 
were  of  Luther's  composition."  To  a  saying  of  this 
sort,  the  fame  of  Handel,  as  a  musician,  can  im- 
part no  particular  weight.  Had  he  expressed  an  opin- 
ion respecting  the  character  of  the  tune,  every  ear 
would  bend  in  reverent  attention.  But,  when  he 
spoke  of  it  only  as  to  its  author,  he  merely  gave  an 

now  in  the  author's  possession.  It  formerly  belonged  to  the  celebrat- 
ed Sebastian  Bach,  and  was  given  by  his  son  Emanuel  to  Dr.  Burney, 
when  visiting  at  Hamburgh.  This  gift  is  attested  by  the  Doctor's 
own  hand  in  a  fly  leaf  of  the  volume ;  and  a  description  of  the  volume 
itself  is  printed  in  a  note  at  the  foot  of  page  3 1  of  the  third  volume 
of  his  History  of  Music. 


26  THE    OLD    HUNDREDTH    PSALM    TUNE. 

opinion  concerning  an  historical  fact,  and  placed  him- 
self on  a  level  with  other  respectable  witnesses.  It  is 
not  stated  that  he  ever  assigned  any  reason  for  his  as- 
sertion, while  the  circumstance  of  his  being  a  German 
and  a  Lutheran,  would  incline  him,  in  speaking  of 
psalm  tunes,  to  associate  one  so  popular  in  England 
as  was  the  Old  Hundredth,  with  others  which  he  well 
knew  originated  in  his  native  community. 

Dr.  Burney,  therefore,  only  exercised  due  caution 
when  he  wrote  thus:  "It  is  said  to  have  been  the 
opinion  of  Handel,,  that  Luther  himself  was  its  author, 
but  of  this  I  have  been  able  to  procure  no  authentic 
proof."  (Hist.  Mus.  vol.  iii.,  p.  35.)  Notwithstanding, 
however,  the  want  of  historic  proof  for  the  corrobo- 
ration  of  Handel's  opinion,  and  popular  belief,  edition 
after  edition  has,  for  the  last  century,  prefixed  Luther's 
name  to  the  tune,  or  called  it  a  German  melody. 

2.  In  opposition  to  the  surmise  of  Luther  being  the 
composer  of  it,  are  the  following  broad  facts,  which, 
though  of  a  negative  character,  go  far  towards  a  posi- 
tive conclusion.  (1.)  The  tune  is  not  printed  in  any 
of  Luther's  own  publications,  nor  in  any  authentic  re- 
print of  them.  (2.)  In  none  of  the  old  German  choral 
books  is  the  name  of  Luther  attached  to  the  tune. 
(3.)  In  many  of  those  books  the  name  of  some  other 
composer  is  attached  to  the  tune.*  (4.)  The  tune  was 
never  very  popular  in  Germany,  not  half  so  popular  as 

*  Frantz  assigns  it  to  Melancthon,  and  Werner  to  Claude  Gondi- 
mel.  In  the  "  Cantica  Spiritualia,"  (Augsburg,  1845,)  the  tune  is 
printed  in  triple  time,  and  attributed  to  the  San  Goar  CatJwlic  Hymn 
Book  of  1666. 


THE  OLD  HUNDREDTH  PSALM  TUNE.         2 

any  of  the  tunes  which  were  known  to  be  Luther's. 
(5.)  No  German  writer,  of  any  account,  has  ever  con- 
tended that  Luther  was  the  composer  of  it.  (6.)  So 
early  as  1621,  Ravenscroft  had  not  ascertained  its  au- 
thor, but  concluded  that,  as  to  its  origin,  it  was  not 
German. 

In  the  face  of  these  negative  facts,  some  more  posi- 
tive evidence  than  any  now  extant  must  be  adduced, 
ere  the  tune  can,  with  any  show  of  reason,  be  attrib- 
uted to  Luther. 

3.  It  may  be  remembered  that,  about  seven  or  eight 
years  ago,  newspapers  and  other  periodicals  were  jubi- 
lant in  announcing  "  an  interesting  and  important  dis- 
covery respecting  the  Old  Hundredth  Psalm  Tune." 
It  was  stated  that  Mr.  Oliphant,  of  the  British  Museum, 
had  met  with  a  very  old  book  of  Luther's,  containing 
only  his  own  tunes,*35"  and  that  among  them  was  the  one 
which  we  call  the  Old  Hundredth.  This  was  consid- 
ered as  proof  positive  of  the  tune  being  Luther's,  and, 
therefore,  a  full  and  satisfactory  settlement  of  a  long 
pending  question.  And  such,  undoubtedly,  it  would 
have  been,  had  the  facts  of  the  case  been  what  they 
were  said  t6  be.  But,  unfortunately  for  all  who  are 
interested  in  the  question,  rumor  had  been  too  hasty, 
and  a  little  too  busy.  Mr.  Oliphant  had  been  misun- 
derstood. His  mention  of  a  partial  resemblance  had 
been  magnified  into  a  total  identity.  Upon  application 
to  that  gentleman,  he  kindly  supplied  a  copy  of  the 


*  The  title  is  "  Luther  (Martin)  G-eystliche  Lieder,  8vo.      Nurem- 
berg, 1570." 


28  THE    OLD    HUNDREDTH    PSALM    TUNE. 

tune,  which  is  headed,  in  German,  "Another  Spiritual 
Song."     The  following  is  a  transcript  of  that  copy : 


Now,  in  the  first  strain  of  this  sweet  old  melody, 
there  is  a  resemblance*  to  the  first  strain  of  the  Old 
Hundredth  tune,  and  the  fifth  strain,  a  merely  varied 
repetition,  is  almost  identical  with  it.  The  first  three 
notes,  also,  of  the  third  strain  of  the  melody,  are  the 
same  as  the  first  three  of  the  third  strain  of  our  tune. 
But  this  is  all  that  can  be  said.  The  metre  of  the  two 
is  not  the  same,  neither  is  the  mould  of  the  one  at  all 
like  the  mould  of  the  other. 

The  discovery  of  this  old  book,  and  the  interesting 
melody  which  it  contains,  though,  as  will  be  shown,  it 
is  no  discovery  at  all,  furnishes,  in  point  of  fact,  addi- 
tional ground  for  believing  that  the  Old  Hundredth  is 
not  Luther's  composition.  For,  as  to  similarity  or  iden- 
tity of  strain  in  phrase,  it  is  not  likely  that  the  same 
composer  would  make  that  phrase  or  strain  the  leading 
idea  in  two  tunes,  especially  as  .other  composers  have 

*  In  point  of  fact,  the  strain  is  identical :  for  there  can  be  no  doubt, 
as  subsequent  remarks  will  show,  that  the  second  note  of  it  is  a  mis- 
print, A  being  put  for  B. 


THE   OLD   HUNDREDTH    PSALM   TUNE.  29 

adopted  the  same  idea  in  other  once  well-known 
tunes. 

After  all,  the  tune  which  was,  at  the  time,  considered 
a  discovery,  and  an  addition  to  our  musical  stock,  is 
neither  one  nor  the  other.  It  is  a  well-known  and 
commonly-printed  tune,  in  the  Lutheran  church  on  the 
Continent.  Hardly  a  German  Choral  Book  is  without 
it.  It  is  ex.  gr.  No.  14  in  Sebastian  Bach's  Choral  Ge- 
sang  Buch;  No.  144  in  Werner's;  No.  493  in  John 
Daniel  Miiller's ;  No.  28  in  K.  U.  Frantz's,  and  page  48 
in  Christian  Miiller's.  It  is  not  printed  in  the  Mora- 
vian Hymn  Tune  Book.  Singular  also  to  say,  it  is 
printed  in  John  Day's  Dutch  Psalter,  of  1561. 

With  respect,  then,  to  Luther,  it  is  clear  that  there 
is  not  only  no  evidence  of  the  tune  being  his  composi- 
tion, but  much  to  the  contrary. 

The  claim  of  its  authorship  for  Claude  Goudimel  is 
equally  unsubstantial. 

Goudimel  was  the  greatest  musician  of  his  age  in 
France.  Renouncing  the  Roman  Catholic  faith,  he 
became  a  Protestant ;  and  was  massacred  at  Lyons,  at 
the  time  of  the  Bartholomew  atrocity  in  Paris,  in  1572. 
It  was,  say  historians,  his  composing  of  tunes  to  Marot 
and  Beza's  psalms,  which  incensed  the  Roman  parti- 
sans, and  cost  him  his  life.* 

But,  by  composing  tunes  was  not  meant  framing  or 
composing  melodies.  It  meant  the  composing  or  put- 
ting together,  in  the  Latin  sense  of  the  word,  certain 
parts  to  melodies  already  framed.  This,  Goudimel  did ; 

*  He  was  brutally  dragged  from  his  house,  and  shamefully  treated. 
At  length  his  head  was  cut  off,  and  cast  into  the  Rhone. 


30  THE    OLD    HUNDREDTH    PSALM    TUNE. 

for  in  1565,  he  published,  at  Paris,  the  whole  of  the 
tunes  in  the  Genevan  Psalter,  set  in  four  parts.*  But 
the  tunes  themselves  had  been  extant,  for  more  than 
twenty  years ;  as  is  attested  by  a  preface,  written  by 
Calvin  himself,  to  one  edition  of  the  psalms,  dated 
June  10,  1543,  wherein  it  is  said,  "  all  the  psalms,  with 
their  music,  were"  printed  the  first  time  at  Geneva." 
As  there  is  good  reason  to  conclude,  that  Goudimel 
became  a  Protestant  not  more  than  ten  years  before  he 
published  his  parts  to  the  Genevan  tunes,  it  is  next  to 
impossible  that  he  could  have  had  any  hand  in  the 
framing  of  the  tunes  themselves.  Besides,  Goudimel's 
harmonies  were  composed  for  the  use  of  the  French 
Protestant  churches,  and  were  never  admitted  into  the 
Genevan.  Hence,  there  is  no  manner  of  evidence  to 
show  that  Goudimel  was  the  composer  of  our  Old 
Hundredth  Psalm  Tune,  except  so  far  as  to  compose 
parts  to  it;  which  was  the  pleasant  task  of  many  a 
musician  in  after  times.  The  mistake  has  been  occa- 
sioned by  a  wrong  interpretation  of  the  word  composed, 
and  is  precisely  of  that  sort  which  has  been  so  com- 
monly made  with  respect  to  the  tunes  in  Ravenscroft's 
Psalter.  The  persons  who,  as  he  says,  "  composed  them, 
into  parti"  were  not  the  framers  of  the  tunes,  for  many 
of  those  tunes  were  framed  before  the  composers  of 
the  harmony  to  them  were  born. 

With  regard  to  William  Franc,  there  is  as  clear  evi- 
dence as  can  reasonably  be  demanded,  that  the  tune  is 

*  A  copy  of  this  work,  supposed  to  be  unique,  at  least  in  England, 
is  in  the  possession  of  Mr.  Warren,  well  known  as  an  organist  in  Lon- 
don, and  an  editor  of  many  publications. 


THE    OLD    HUNDREDTH   PSALM   TUNE.  31 

his, — at  least  that  he  is  its  fairly  reputed  author. 
Franc  himself  was  no  great  musician.  His  name  is  un- 
known to  fame,  except  as  connected  with  the  tunes  in 
the  Genevan  Psalter.  But  as  his  task  consisted  in 
framing  simple  melodies,  without  caring  for  originality 
or  laboring  at  harmony,  his  skill  might  have  been 
equal  to  his  task. 

Both  Dr.  Burney  and  Sir  John  Hawkins  adduce  am- 
ple proof,  that  Franc  was  the  composer,  or  at  least  the 
compiler,  of  the  melodies  which  were  set  to  Marot  and 
Beza's  version  of  the  Psalms.  Both,  also,  state  that 
Beza  himself  testified  the  fact,  in  a  formal  document 
signed  with  his  own  hand,  and  dated  Nov.  2,  1552. 
They  further  state,  that-  an  edition  of  the  Geneva 
Psalms  was  printed  in  1564,  with  the  name  of  "  Guil- 
laume  Franc,"  as  the  author  of  the  musical  notes  to 
them,  and  with  the  license  of  the  local  magistrate  at- 
testing Franc's  authorship.  Consequently,  if  Franc 
was  the  author  of  the  tunes,  as  this  evidence  proves 
him  to  be,  and  if  our  Old  Hundredth  was  among  them, 
as  undoubtedly  it  was,  then,  in  all  fairness,  must  Franc 
be  regarded  as  the  author  of  that  tune. 

Still  a  partisan  may  plead,  that,  although  Franc  may 
be  the  author  of  the  tunes  generally,  it  does  not  neces- 
sarily follow  that  he  composed  every  one  of  them ;  or 
that,  although  the  tune  in  question  is  now  first  found 
in  the  Genevan  Psalter,  yet,  as  Germany  was  the 
parent-school  of  psalmody,  it  may  have  been  formed 
there,  and  afterwards  have  found  its  way  to  Geneva, 
without  any  record  of  the  fact  being*  extant. 


32         THE  OLD  HUNDREDTH  PSALM  TUNE. 

But  if  such  pleading  as  this  be  admitted,  the  best 
evidence  will  cease  to  be  respected. 

It  may  be  allowable,  though  hardly  necessary,  to 
add,  that  had  Ravenscroft,  in  1621,  regarded  the  tune 
as  of  German  production,  he,  doubtless,  would  have 
said  so:  for  he  is  remarkably  precise  in  mentioning 
not  the  personal  but  the  national  or  provincial  origin 
of  the  tunes  in  his  Psalter.*  But  as  he  expressly  called 
it  "A  French  Tune,"  (i.  e.,  printed  in  the  French 
Psalter,)  and  as  no  one  before  him,  or  for  more  than  a 
century  after  him,  said  otherwise,  consistency  requires 
the  acceptance  of  his  testimony.  It  is  not  unimportant, 
also,  that  Mr.  Kollman,  who,  early  in  the  present  cen- 
tury, harmonized  the  tune  in  a  hundred  different  ways, 
was  frank  enough,  though  a  German,  to  avow  his  belief 
in  its  Genevan  origin. 

But  though  the  authorship  of  the  tune  must  be  as- 
signed to  Franc,  it  is  still  a  question  how  far  the  tune 
itself  is  an  original  composition. 

THE  HYPOTHESIS  which  the  writer  of  these  pages  has 
to  substantiate  goes  to  show  that  the  tune  is  rather  a 
fragmented  compilation  than  an  original  composition. 
Whether  the  surmise  of  such  fact  has  ever  occurred  to 
any  one  else,  or  whether  any  attempt  to  illustrate  it 
has  ever  been  made,  he  has  no  means  of  ascertaining. 
Certainly,  he  never  met  with  any  allusion  to  it,  in  the 
course  of  his  reading. 

It  has  already  been  remarked,  that  adaptation  was 

*  See  the  preface  to  the  author's  reprint  of  Ravenscroft's  "  Whole 
Booke  of  Psalmes."  Novello,  London. 


THE  OLD  HUNDREDTH  PSALM  TUNE. 


33 


the  common  practice  of  the  first  framers  of  psalm- 
tunes  ;  and  that  their  adaptations,  though  derived  at 
first  from  secular  sources,  yet  presently  shaped  them- 
selves from  ecclesiastical  models.  As  all  the  reformers 
and  musicians  of  their  day,  were  perfectly  familiar 
with  the  Gregorian  melodies,  it  is  natural  to  suppose 
that,  in  the  task  of  mere  composition,  they  would 
freely  avail  themselves  of  them.  Now  it  is  a  fact, 
which  any  one  may  test,  that,  from  even  four  of  the 
Gregorian  Hymns,  in  one  book  of  "  The  Evening  Ser- 
vice," edited  by  Mr.  Vincent  Novello,  the  whole  of  our 
old  Hundredth  Psalm  Tune  may  tolerably  well  be 
made  up.  In  pages  4,  6,  18,  and  22,  of  the  third 
book  of  that  service,  the  several  phrases  of  the  tune 
are  again  and  again  repeated.  The  first  part  of  the 
first  strain  of  the  tune  will  be  seen  in  page  19  of  Book 
L,  and  is  quite  common-place  in  the  Gregorian  Hymns. 

PAGE  4.     BOOK  III. 


Su  -  a    -    -    -    vis       Dom-i  -  ne. 


2± 


-&- 


Pau    -    le  . 


In  page  26,  as  well  as  in  page  4,  of  the  first  Book, 
the  characteristic  part  of  the  second  strain  is  definitely 
marked : 


a  -  vit 


THE    OLD    HUNDREDTH    PSALM   TUNE. 

In  page  22  of  Book  III.,  the  third  strain  is  found, 
even  to  identity,  and  is,  also,  observable  in  page  4. 


A     - 

l^^  i 

I/TV  fA    a 

G    <d 

-  a  c^ 

U 

Chris-to          ju  -  ben  -  te  .  .          vin    - 

cla. 

The  same  may  be  said  of  the  fourth  strain  compared 
with  pages  6  and  26  of  the  same  Book. 


Mar  -  ti  -  nee        ce  -  le  -  bri .  .        plau  -  di  -  te. 

So  common,  indeed,  is  the  first  strain,  that,  in  even 
our  own  English  psalter,  it  occurs  three  times.  It 
commences  the  third  psalm,  and  the  sixty-eighth; 
while  it  forms  the  fifth  strain  of  the  sixty-first.*  It 
forms,  also,  in  triple  measure,  the  first  strain  of  No.  7, 
in  Sebastian  Bach's  Choralgesange,  and  of  No.  63  in 
Toepler's  "Alte  Choral  Melodien,"  where  that  Number 
is  dated  1550.  In  Hall's  "  Courte  of  Vertue,"  A.D. 
1565,  (Douce's  Collection,  Bodleian  Library,)  the 
whole  of  the  former  half  of  the  tune  is  set  as  the 
former  half  of  "  A  Ditie  to  be  sung  of  Musicians  in  the 
Mornyng,  at  thyr  Lord  or  Master's  door,  or  els  where 
of  hymn  to  be  heard."  In  a  word,  the  use  of  the  first 
strain  is  so  common,  that  it  would  be  troublesome  to 
enumerate  all  the  known  instances. 

The  second  strain  of  the  tune,  which  also  strongly 

*  Singular,  also,  to  say,  both  the  first  and  the  second  strain  form 
the  commencement  of  a  rather  long  tune  to  the  seventy-eighth  psalm 
in  Day's  Psalter  of  1563,  though  that  Psalter,  as  before  stated,  does 
not  contain  the  Old  Hundredth  tune  itself. 


THE    OLD   HUNDREDTH   PSALM   TUNE.  35 

resembles  the  mediation  of  the  first  Gregorian  Tone,  is 
found  in  the  third  psalm  of  our  common  psalters.  The 
use  of  the  first  strain  of  the  tune  by  so  many  compos- 
ers, and  even  by  Luther  himself,  in  the  melody  before 
quoted,  proves  that  the  early  framers  of  psalm  tunes 
were  accustomed  to  consider  certain  stock  phrases  as 
common  property,  to  be  employed  as  might  best  suit 
their  purpose. 

After  these  statements,  and  the  almost  universal  be- 
lief in  the  Continental  origin  of  the  tune,  it  might 
seem  superfluous  to  notice  the  home  claim  which  has 
been  set  up  for  it.  Such  claim  is,  in  itself,  hardly 
worthy  of  attention ;  but  the  character  and  position  of 
the  individual  who  seriously  believed  it,  and  strenu- 
ously advocated  it,  almost  forces  a  recording  pen  to 
make  some  remark  upon  it. 

In  consequence  of  Ravenscroft  having  prefixed  the 
name  of  John  Douland  to  the  tune,  as  the  harmonizer 
of  it,  Douland  has  been  considered  its  author.  The 
erroneous  notion  seems  to  have  taken  its  rise  from 
some  vague  remarks  of  Dr.  Pepusch,*  about  the  begin- 
ning of  the  last  century.  The  surmise  that  Douland 
was  the  composer  of  the  tune  spread  among  the  editors 
of  the  many  local  collections  of  tunes  of  the  ensuing 
generation.  At  length  the  Rev.  W.  Bowles,  Canon  of 
Salisbury,  in  his  interesting  "  History  of  Bremhill," 
(page  206,  &c.,)  advocated  the  surmise,  and  detailed 
many  arguments  in  support  of  it.  The  process  which 

*  Those  remarks  had  reference  to  the  composition  of  the  tune  into 
parts,  by  Douland ;  but  the  use  of  the  word  "  composition"  in  its  old 
sense,  misled  modern  ears. 


36  THE    OLD    HUNDREDTH    PSALM   TUNE. 

the  estimable  poet,  historian,  and  divine  thought  fit  to 
follow,  is  this : — Considering  that  there  is  no  authority 
for  attributing  the  tune  to  Luther,  he  endeavored  to 
prove  that  it  is  "originally  English."  The  tune,  he 
argues,  so  exactly  suits  the  accentuation  of  the  first 
verse  of  our  hundredth  psalm,  old  version,  that  it  must 
have  been  composed  to  those  words.  In  an  old  book 
of  his  own,  the  title  of  which  is  not  given,  the  worthy 
Canon  found  the  name  of  John  Douland  at  the  head  of 
the  tune.  Ravenscroft,  also,  as  he  thought  he  had  dis- 
covered, assigned  it  to  that  eminent  musician.  But, 
"after,"  as  Mr.  Bowles  supposes,  "Ravenscroft  pub- 
lished the  air  as  Douland's,  he  saw  it  in  a  French  book 
of  psalms,  and,  without  sufficient  examination,  re- 
tracted in  the  index  what  he  had  advanced  in  the  body 
of  his  work."  (p.  218.)  This  is  the  sum  of  a  rather 
long  argument.  A  breath  would  suffice  to  demolish  it, 
but  the  deserved  repute  of  the  pleader  of  it  requires  a 
little  more  formality  in  its  annihilation. 

It  is  singular  that  a  man  like  Mr.  Canon  Bowles, 
should  have  so  slurred  over  facts,  which  he  was  per- 
fectly competent  to  investigate.  He  furnishes,  how- 
ever, another  proof  of  what  has  been  so  often  proved, 
that  a  superior  mind  without  a  special  turn,  is  not  al- 
ways equal  to  every  task.  Had  the  poet  been  more 
of  a  musician,  he  could  hardly  have  failed,  as  he  has, 
in  handling  a  point  of  musical  history.  A  very  easy 
glance  at  any  of  the  old  psalters,  which  must  have  been 
within  his  reach,  would  have  sufficed  to  convince  him 
that  his  argument  about  the  accentuation  of  the  words 
was  but  a  mere  cobweb,  and  that  it  was  far  more  likely 


THE    OLD   HUNDREDTH   PSALM   TUNE.  37 

that  the  words  were  written  to  the  tune,  than  that  the 
tune  was  composed  for  the  words ;  especially  as  there 
are  many  tunes  of  the  same  metre  in  the  foreign  psal- 
ters, but  only  this  one  set  of  words  in  our  own  old 
psalter. 

The  assertion  that  Ravenscroft  "retracted  in  his 
index  what  he  had  advanced  in  his  book,"  is  altogether 
unintelligible,  except  as  a  flat  mistake.  In  the  book, 
Ravenscroft  headed  the  tune  thus — "French  Tune, 
J.  Douland,  Doctor  of  Music,"  and,  in  the  index,  he 
wrote,  "French  Tones,  Psalm  50,  100."  There  is  no 
manner  of  retraction  here,  but  an  iteration  of  the  same 
thing;  for,  by  "French  Tune  or  Tone,"  Ravenscroft 
expressed  his  belief  as  to  the  national  origin  of  the 
tune  itself;  and,  by  prefixing  Douland's  name,  told  the 
world  that  he  harmonized  it,  not  that  he  composed  it. 
This  is  sheer  fact,  because  Ravenscroft  twice  printed 
the  tune  in  his  book,  once  with  his  own  name,  and 
once  with  Douland's  prefixed  to  it,  merely  to  indicate 
where  parts  were  then  set  to  it.  Hence,  according  to 
the  reverend  Canon's  argument,  Ravenscroft  is  as  fairly 
entitled  to  be  called  the  author  of  the  tune,  as  is  Dow- 
land  himself.  It  is  strange  that  such  an  oversight 
should  have  been  made,  especially  as  Sir  John  Hawkins 
had  long  ago,  by  anticipation,  corrected  it. 

But,  apart  from  all  arguments  and  surmises,  it  is 
plain  fact  that  Douland  was  not  the  author  of  the  tune, 
for  he  was  born  in  1562,  and  the  tune  was  printed  in 
an  English  psalter,  at  Geneva,  in  1561. 

THE  HARMONY  which  used  to  be  set  to  the  tune,  was 


38  THE    OLD    HUNDREDTH    PSALM    TUNE. 

far  more  varied  and  elaborate  than  any  which  is  now 
used.  Hardly  a  company  of  singers  can  now  be  found 
who  sing  the  tune,  as  to  its  harmony,  in  more  than  one 
way ;  whereas,  our  forefathers  were  accustomed  to  har- 
monize and  sing  it  in  many  ways. 

The  date  of  the  origin  of  the  practice  of  harmonizing 
the  simple  psalm  melodies,  was  mistaken  both  by  Dr. 
Burney  and  Sir  John  Hawkins.  Those  historians  state 
that  the  tunes  in  the  English  psalter  were  first  harmo- 
nized by  William  Damon,  in  1579.  They  made  the 
statement  in  complete  unconsciousness  of  the  Brazen- 
Nose  Psalter  of  1563,  which  is  the  more  remarkable,  as 
the  version  of  the  Old  Hundredth  in  that  psalter  was 
reprinted  in  subsequent  manuals. 

The  practice  in  question  originated  in  the  laudable 
desire  to  make  that  which  was  good  of  its  kind,  better 
and  more  satisfactory  in  its  results.  Cultivated  ears, 
which  had  been  accustomed  to  harmony,  were  not 
likely  to  be  satisfied  with  a  mere  air,  sung  at  once  by 
all  sorts  of  voices.  Masters  were  soon  found  for  cloth- 
ing with  ornamental  harmony  the  naked  melodies  of 
the  times.  The  practice  speedily  became  general  in 
all  the  churches  of  the  Reformation.  France  and  Eng- 
land vied  with  Germany  in  providing  harmonic  embel- 
lishments for  all  the  tunes  which  were  usually  sung. 
But  then,  that  provision  was  made  in  a  manner  which, 
though  differing  greatly  from  what  is  now  common, 
was  admirably  adapted  to  favor  popular  usage  without 
interfering  with  it.  For,  the  harmonists  of  the  day 
contrived  to  let  the  people  sing  in  unison  as  fully  and 
as  lustily  as  they  pleased,  and  yet  ornamented  their 


THE    OLD   HUNDREDTH    PSALM   TUNE.  39 

singing  by  composing  distinct  parts  for  select  voices, 
independent  of  the  melody  or  tune,  and  yet  beautifully 
agreeing  with  it.  Hence  the  Old  Hundredth,  like 
other  old  tunes,  was  harmonized  and  sung  in  a  totally 
different  way  to  what  we  are  accustomed  to  hear  it* 
Instead  of  the  air  or  tune  being  sung  as  the  uppermost 
part,  by  treble  voices,  and  all  the  other  parts  set  below 
it,  the  practice  was  to  make  it  a  middle  part,  the  tenor 
as  we  call  it,  but  "  The  Plain  Song,"  as  our  forefathers 
named  it.  While,  therefore,  "the  great  congregation" 
sang  the  plain  and  simple  tune,  trained  voices  sang 
other  parts  which  harmonized  with  it.  In  fact,  these 
trained  voices  served  as  a  sort  of  vocal  accompaniment 
to  "  the  plain  song,"  especially  where  there  was  no 
organ  or  other  instruments. 

This  sort  of  singing  gave  opportunity  for  consider- 
able variety  to  the  skilful  choir,  because  one  tune  used 
to  be  harmonized  in  several  ways,  by  either  the  same 
harmonist,  or  by  other  masters.  It  is  evident,  as  a 
matter  of  history,  that  while  the  people  sang  but  few 
tunes,  the  choral  companies  had  many  different  accom- 
paniments to  each.  Thus,  if  the  people  sang  the  Old 
Hundredth  for  three  Sundays  in  succession,  the  choir 
might  sing  their  parts  in  three  different  ways,  for  not 
only  three  but  many  ways  were  extant.  In  this  man- 

*  The  ordinary  mode  in  which  the  tune  is  now  harmonized  in  Eng- 
land, has  been  justly  censured  for  its  monotonous  effect.  According 
to  that  mode  the  initial  and  terminal  note  of  each  strain,  excepting 
in  only  one  instance,  is  set  to  the  tonal  harmony.  The  old  masters 
studiously  avoided  such  sameness.  In  the  Appendix  a  specimen  will 
be  given  of  the  mode  in  which  the  tune  is  harmonized  after  a  better 
fashion,  and  as  it  is  sung  in  many  churches  besides  the  author's. 


40 


THE    OLD   HUNDREDTH    PSALM    TUNE. 


ner,  a  new  character  could  be  frequently  given  to  an 
old  tune;  for  nothing  is  more  common  than  for  old 
collections  to  furnish  two  or  three  versions  of  varied 
harmony  to  one  tune.  The  ordinary  prefix  is,  "an- 
other of  the  same,"  with  the  name  or  initials  of  the 
author.  It  was  this  composition  of  parts  of  which  mu- 
sicians were  ambitious,  and  to  which  they  were  mainly 
anxious  to  attach  their  names.  Oversight  of  this  fact 
has  led  many  an  editor  of  collections  of  psalm  tunes 
into  the  error  of  putting  the  name  of  a  harmonist  for 
that  of  the  framer  of  a  melody. 

Of  the  many  harmonized  versions  of  the  Old  Hun- 
dredth tune,  to  which  earlier  choirs  had  access,  none 
seems  to  have  been  more  generally  used  than  that  of 
W.  Parsons,  first  printed  in  Day's  Psalter  of  1563,  at 
least,  none  seems  to  have  been  more  generally  selected, 
by  succeeding  editors,  for  republication.  This  is  the 
oldest  known  specimen  of  English  harmonization  of  the 
tune,  and  is  perhaps  equal  to  any  which  was  produced 
in  any  other  quarter  and  at  any  other  date.  It  is  thus : 


THE    OLD    HUNDREDTH   PSALM   TUNE. 


41 


Though,  this  method  of  harmonization  was,  for  sev- 
eral generations,  the  prevailing  method,  yet,  at  an 
early  date,  what  is  now  the  present  method  was  at- 
tempted and  published.  William  Damon,  in  the  year 
1579,  published  "  The  Psalmes  of  David  with  notes  of 
four  parts."  The  work  neither  pleased  the  public, 
nor  satisfied  its  author.  Accordingly,  some  years  after, 
in  1591,  he  published  an  improved  edition,  "  wherein 
the  highest  part  singeth  the  Church  Tune ;"  but  it  does 
not  seem  even  to  have  been  in  much  repute.*  A  copy 
of  the  tenor  and  bass  parts  of  the  former  edition  is 
preserved  in  the  British  Museum,  but  the  other  two 
parts  are  lost.  The  two  extant  parts  are  these : 


REE 

'.  i 

4-    « 

•  ^  ,=  •- 

f~ 

1 

<v 

-  *m   i-  o 

CJ 

•—  ** 

O 

1 

i 
1       ' 

0    o 

e! 

1    <o 

/O         /O 

•  , 

1 

•   1    ° 

C.  x*          L*S 

5 

X— 

d 

!      _j 

f* 

~  r~  \~   ' 

M  "      A    - 

Q         xr> 

HZZ-3 

'            \ 

a     f- 

&    " 

•• 

-_ 

22     2 

I    L 

CS" 

- 

~     °  '          &          ^ 

\ 

, 

r 

.                   | 

r^              \ 

1        -*-» 

._ 

|          1 

nnj         <^ 

1        g 

^     jC  x 

^^ 

...  H     d     c 

«        j 

22 

^ 

fv        ^^^ 

SE 


-<S?- 


—G>- 


-&— 


-CJ- 


-&— 


12211 


-FT1 


*  Shortly  after,  in  1509,  Mr.  Richard  Alison,  a  private  gentleman, 
but  a  superior  musician,  published  iu  a  large  and  handsome  volume, 


42  THE   OLD   HUNDREDTH    PSALM   TUNE. 

Another  method  of  harmonization  was  occasionally 
adopted  at  a  very  early  period.  It  consisted  in  turn- 
ing some  short  phrase  of  the  tune  into  a  subject  for 
a  little  fugue  ;  and  yet  so  ingeniously  ordered  as  to  be 
perfectly  easy  for  the  congregation  to  follow  their  own 
part.  Instances  of  this  sort  of  composition,  which  was 
called  "In  Reports,"*  occur  in  Day's  Psalter  of  1563, 
but  the  author  never  saw  a  specimen  of  the  Old  Hun- 
dredth so  treated.  Neither  is  there,  in  Day's  Psalter, 
"Another  of  the  Same,"  as  in  the  case  of  many  of  the 
tunes. 

THE  TIME  in  which  the  tune  is  now  sung,  furnishes 
an  instance  of  alteration  as  remarkable  as  any  in  its  en- 
tire history.  Originally,  and  till  a  comparatively  late 
period,  the  tune  was  regarded  as  the  liveliest  and 
most  cheerful  in  the  whole  Psalter. 

On  the  publication  of  Tate  and  Brady's  New  Version, 
the  Old  Hundredth  Psalm  Tune  was  singled  out  as  a 
model  tune  "  for  Psalms  of  praise  and  cheerfulness." 
As  such  it  is  still  recognized  in  the  "Directions  con- 
cerning Tunes,"  printed  at  the  end  of  even  some  recent 
editions  of  that  Version.  But  time,  which  changes  so 
many  things,  has  witnessed  a  strange  alteration  in  the 


a  collection  of  Church  Tunes,  set  chiefly  for  instruments.  In  this 
volume,  also,  the  air  or  tune  was  the  highest  part;  but  why  Mr. 
Alison  omitted  to  insert  the  Old  Hundredth  Tune  is  as  difficult  to 
conjecture  as  the  fact  itself  is  singular. 

*  "  In  Reports'"  seems  to  have  meant  a  bringing  back  of  a  musical 
phrase  in  the  way  of  answer  (from  the  Latin  reporto),  and  so  to  have 
been  another  expression  for  siting  in  fugue,  which  is  the  following 
or  answering  of  one  part  by  another. 


THE    OLD    HUNDREDTH    PSALM    TUNE.  43 

mode  of  singing  this  tune.  Instead  of  being  regarded 
as  a  joyous  and  animating  melody,  it  is  reckoned  a 
solemn,  and  even  a  funeral  strain.  It  consequently  is 
no  longer  sung  in  a  spirited  and  sprightly  style,  but 
doled  forth  with  the  utmost  length  of  syllabic  utter- 
ance. So  inveterate,  too,  has  this  singular  change  be- 
come, that  not  even  the  extremely  jubilant  character 
of  the  Hundredth  Psalm  itself,  is  sufficient  to  awaken 
attention  to  the  anomaly.  Though  choirs  and  other 
singers  are  familiar  with  the  old  title  of  the  Psalm, 
"Jubilate  Deo,"  and  repeat  its  translation,  "  0  be  joy- 
ful in  the  Lord,"  in  the  Morning  Service  of  our 
Church,  they,  nevertheless,  fail  to  see  the  inconsistency 
of  singing  the  tune  to  its  metrical  version,  in  a  drawl- 
ing and  sleepy  manner.  Not  even,  when  using  either 
the  old  or  new  version,  and  repeating  lines,  which  call 
on  all  the  dwellers  upon  earth  to  rejoice  in  praising, 
lauding,  and  blessing  Jehovah,  do  they  perceive  the 
incongruity  ;  but  continue  to  sing  those  lines  with  the 
same  sleepy  slowness  as  they  would  sing  a  dirge  in  a 
grave-yard.  Indeed,  were  a  company  of  modern  sing- 
ers requested  to  choose  some  very  sober  tune  to  suit 
some  very  solemn  long  metre  hymn,  the  choice  would 
inevitably  fall  on  this  liveliest  of  all  the  ancient  tunes. 
The  reason  of  this  perversion  may,  perhaps,  be  found, 
now-a-days  at  least,  in  the  very  antiquity  of  the  tune 
itself.  It  has  become  a  popular  notion  that  all  old 
tunes  must  be  sung  in  proportionably  slow  time.  How 
groundless  and  inaccurate  this  notion  is,  there  would 
be  no  great  difficulty  in  proving  at  large.  It  is  suffi- 
cient to  state  that  in  the  year  1621,  Thomas  Ravens- 


44  THE    OLD    HUNDREDTH    PSALM    TUNE. 

croft,  the  great  oracle  for  this  species  of  church  music, 
directed,  "  That  Psalmes  of  Rejoycing  be  sung  with  a 
louder  voice,  and  a  swift  and  jocund  measure"  This, 
no  doubt,  was  in  accordance  with  what  had  been  the 
custom  of  the  Elizabethan  age ;  for,  unless  such  cus- 
tom had  existed,  how  were  our  forefathers  to  get 
through  twelve  or  sixteen  verses,  the  usual  partition 
of  the  longer  psalms  ?* 

Even  Dr.  Isaac  Watts,  who  composed  many  of  his 
*'  Imitations  of  the  Psalms  of  David"  to  suit  the  meas- 
ure of  our  fine  old  church  tunes,  remarked,  about  the 
middle  of  the  last  century,  that  "  If  the  method  of 
singing  were  but  reformed  to  a  greater  speed  of  pro- 
nunciation, we  might  often  enjoy  the  pleasure  of  a 
longer  psalm,  with  less  expense  of  time  and  breath ; 
and  our  psalmody  would  be  more  agreeable  to  that  of 
the  ancient  churches,  more  intelligible  to  others,  and 
delightful  to  ourselves." 

OF  FACTS  AND  INCIDENTS  concerning  this  celebrated 
tune,  the  author  has  no  large  store  ;  what  he  possesses 
shall  be  detailed : 

In  1620,  Sir  John  Denham  called  it  "  The  most  grave 
and  graceful  of  tunes."  By  the  term  "  grave,"  we  must 
understand  him  to  mean,  what  in  his  day  it  generally 
meant,  sober,  temperate,  devout. 

Such,   in  its   structure,  the  tune  certainly  is ;  for. 

*  Our  second  Ordination  Hymn  contains  fifteen  verses,  which  were 
to  be  sung  antiphonally  by  the  bishops  and  the  priests,  with  others 
present.  Tallis's  now  well-known  Tune,  which  was  composed  for  it, 
admirably  suited  its  antiphonal  structure. 


THE    OLD    HUNDREDTH   PSALM   TUNE.  45 

though,  cheerful  and  animated,  there  is  nothing  vehe- 
ment, impetuous,  or  particularly  stirring,  in  any  of  its 
strains.  As  to  gracefulness,  few  tunes  surpass  it,  espe- 
cially in  the  easy  flow  of  its  original  form.  Sir  John's 
remark  may  be  considered  a  proof  of  the  high  repute 
of  the  tune,  in  his  comparatively  early  day.  It  is  the 
only  testimony  to  that  repute,  in  that  day,  with  which 
the  author  is  acquainted. 

About  the  year  1760,  Dr.  William  Hayes,  the  then 
Professor  of  Music  in  the  University  of  Oxford,  set  in- 
strumental accompaniments  to  the  tune,  for  annual 
performance  at  the  Festival  of  the  Sons  of  the  Clergy 
in  St.  Paul's,  London,*  and  at  the  Radcliffe  Infirmary 
and  University  Commemoration,  in  St.  Mary's,  Oxford. 
The  arrangement  was  for  two  oboies,  bassoon,  two 
violins,  viola  and  violoncello.  After  a  prelude  of 
twenty  measures,  in  which  the  wind  instruments  are 
partially  distinct  in  their  parts  from  the  stringed  in- 
struments, the  latter  conduct  the  ornamental  accompa- 
niment, while  the  former  sustain  the  vocal  parts. 
Compared  with  the  fugal  treatment  of  other  tunes,  by 
Bach  and  Rink,  Dr.  W.  Hayes's  accompaniments  to  the 
Old  Hundredth  Psalm  Tune  are  not  particularly  inter- 

*  The  Doctor  always  went  to  London  to  superintend  the  perform- 
ance. His  son  and  successor,  Dr.  Philip  Hayes,  also  continued  to  go, 
to  almost  even  the  day  of  his  death  in  1 797 ;  for,  while  dressing  in 
London  for  the  occasion,  on  the  morning  of  10th  March,  he  was 
seized  with  illness,  which  speedily  terminated  his  life.  He  was  by 
far  the  most  corpulent  man  in  England;  and  always  booked  one 
whole  half  of  the  inside  of  Bobart's  coach  to  London.  As  his  getting 
into  the  coach  was  a  task  of  no  little  difficulty,  a  crowd  of  friends 
and  gazers  usually  assembled  to  witness  his  departure.  Since  his 
death,  his  father's  accompaniments  to  the  tune  have  not  been  used. 


46  THE    OLD   HUNDREDTH   PSALM   TUNE. 

esting  or  erudite.  He  has,  too,  departed  from  the 
older  and  better  style  of  harmonization,  in  two  or  three 
instances ;  though  at  the  beginning  of  the  third  strain, 
he  has  avoided  a  recurrence  to  the  tonal  harmony,  as 
well  as,  at  the  close  of  the  tune  itself,  any  use  of  the  4 
before  the  jj. 

At  the  Festival  of  the  Sons  of  the  Clergy  in  1791, 
Haydn  was  present.  The  singing  of  Jones's  Unison 
Chant  in  D,  and  especially  of  the  Old  Hundredth,  by 
not  much  less  than  six  thousand  voices,  gave  him,  as 
he  said,  "  the  greatest  pleasure  he  ever  derived  from 
the  performance  of  music."  The  effect  of  such  a  num- 
ber of  unison  trebles,  with  just  sufficient  instrumenta- 
tion to  support  them,  was,  in  his  estimation,  superla- 
tively magnificent  and  altogether  unparalleled.  In 
fact,  the  performance  of  the  tune  in  St.  Paul's  Cathe- 
dral is  not  only  singularly  splendid  in  itself,  but  partic- 
ularly attractive  to  foreigners.  At  the  Festival  of 
1851,  the  eminent,  though  perhaps  eccentric,  Berlioz, 
the  friend  of  Mendelssohn,  and  no  inconsiderable  com- 
poser, was  present.  He  wrote  a  somewhat  spirited 
account  of  what  he  heard  and  saw.  The  following  re- 
marks occur  in  the  course  of  it :  "  After  a  chord  on 
the  organ,  the  first  psalm  sung  by  this  unprecedented 
choir,  arose  in  gigantic  unison, — 

"  '  All  people  that  on  earth  do  dwell, 
Sing  to  the  Lord  with  cheerful  voice !' 

"  To  attempt  to  give  you  an  idea  of  the  effect,  would 
be  utterly  useless.  Compared  in  power  and  beauty  to 
the  most  massive  musical  combinations  that  you  ever 


THE    OLD    HUNDREDTH    PSALM    TUNE.  47 

heard,  it  is  as  St.  Paul's  at  London  to  the  church  of 
Ville  (T  Avray,  and  a  hundred  times  greater.  I  should 
add,  that  this  Hundredth  Psalm,  which  is  in  slow  notes, 
and  of  a  grand  character,  was  supported  by  the  organ 
(played  by  Mr.  Goss)  in  superb  harmonies.  I  was  greatly 
surprised  and  pleased  to  learn  that  the  melody,  long 
attributed  to  Luther,  is  by  Claude  Goudimel,  Maiire  de 
Chapelle  at  Lyons,  in  the  sixteenth  century.  It  was 
first  printed  at  Geneva  in  1543."  This  remark  about 
Goudimel,  as  the  composer  of  the  tune,  is  not  only 
suicidal,  but  illustrative  of  the  facility  with  which  men 
of  science  fall  into  historical  mistakes.  If  Goudimel 
was  "Maifae  de  Chapelle  at  Lyons,"  it  is  not  very 
likely  that  he  would  then  and  there  compose  a  psalm 
tune  for  a  Protestant  Conventicle  at  Geneva.  The  fact 
is,  as  already  shown,  that  Goudimel,  in  1543,  was  a 
Roman  Catholic  in  France,  and  far  enough  removed 
from  being  a  Protestant  in  connection  with  Geneva. 

It  cannot  be  the  least  interesting  fact  of  any,  which 
may  be  told  respecting  the  Old  Hundredth,  that  it 
was  the  first  tune  ever  sung  at  divine  service,  con- 
ducted by  a  clergyman,  in  New  Zealand.  The  fact  is 
detailed  in  the  Missionary  Visits  of  the  Rev.  S.  Mars- 
den  to  that  country.  When  chaplain  at  Botany  Bay, 
that  eminently-devoted  man  sailed  to  New  Zealand,  as 
the  pioneer  of  missionary  exertions.  His  landing  on  the 
Island,  for  the  purpose  of  meeting  some  English  resi- 
dents and  certain  native  chiefs,  at  divine  worship, 
is  thus  described  by  himself:  "On  the  morning  of 
Christmas  Day,  1814,  about  ten  o'clock,  we  prepared  to 
go  ashore,  to  publish,  for  the  first  time,  the  glad 


48  THE    OLD   HUNDBEDTH    PSALM   TUNE. 

tidings  of  the  Gospel.  When  we  landed  at  Wangarva, 
we  found  Koro-koro,  Duatterra,  and  Shunghee,  dressed 
in  regimentals,  which  the  governor  had  given  them, 
and  ready  with  their  men  drawn  up  to  be  marched 
into  the  inclosure  to  attend  divine  service.  The  inhab- 
itants of  the  town,  with  some  women  and  children,  and 
a  number  of  chiefs,  formed  a  circle  round  the  whole. 
A  very  solemn  silence  prevailed.  The  sight  was  truly 
impressive.  I  rose  up  and  began  the  service  with  sing- 
ing the  Old  Hundredth  Psalm,  and  felt  my  very  soul 
melt  within  me,  when  I  viewed  my  congregation. 
After  reading  the  service,  during  which  the  natives 
stood  up  and  sat  down,  as  directed  by  the  Europeans, 
I  preached  from  LUKE,  ii.  10." 

A  clerical  friend,  venerable  in  years,  and  well  skilled 
in  sweet  sounds,  says  thus,  in  a  letter  to  the  author : 
"  Dr.  Whitaker,  the  Rector  at  Blackburn,  told  me 
that,  in  laying  the  foundation-stone  of  one  of  his  ten 
district  churches,  all  reared  by  himself,  he  gave  out 
the  glorious  Old  Hundredth ;  when  it  was  sung  by  a 
chorus  of  some  ten  thousand  Lancastrians.  Now  these 
Lancastrians,  apparently  by  musical  tradition  from  the 
days  of  Queen  Bess,  are  all  singers  of  a  scientific  sort ; 
so  that  the  chorus  of  ten  thousand  was  not  a  mingled 
scream  in  unison,  but  a  magnificent  burst  of  harmony 
in  all  the  four  regular  parts,  each  singer  taking  the  part 
which  suited  his  voice.  I  would  have  given  a  trifle  to 
hear  it."  y 

In  the  year  1825,  Dr.  Edward  Hodges,  formerly  of 
Bristol,  and  now,  to  our  national  loss,  of  New  York, 
introduced  the  tune,  as  a  tenor  part,  in  a  splendid 


THE    OLD    HUNDREDTH   PSALM   TUNE.  49 

chorus,  which  formed  a  portion  of  a  most  elaborate 
anthem  for  his  Doctor's  degree  at  Cambridge.  The 
tune  formed  a  stately  contrast  to  the  more  quickly  mov- 
ing subject,  which,  in  all  the  ingenuity  of  fugal  coun- 
terpoint, was  careering  beneath  and  above  it.  The 
Doctor  was  heard,  very  characteristically,  to  say,  that 
Tie  just  wanted  fifty  parish-clerks  to  take  up  the  tune 
"lustily,  and  with  a  good  courage,"  when  the  point 
came  for  beginning  it  in  the  chorus. 

In  a  vastly  more  humble  style,  the  author  of  this 
little  work  also  introduced  the  tune  in  an  anthem,  to 
which  the  Gresham  Prize  Medal  for  1841  was  awarded. 
It  is  used  in  that  anthem,  (No.  XI.  of  the  Gresham 
Compositions,)  first,  as  a  Bass,  according  to  Play  ford's 
version,  in  a  verse  for  four  voices,  with  a  canon,  two 
in  one,  formed  of  the  different  phrases  of  the  tune ; 
and  then,  according  to  Ravenscroft's  version,  as  the 
tenor  of  a  quartet,  which,  in  some  choirs,  is  sung  as  a 
Long  Metre  tune. 

In  the  Musical  World  for  May  20,  1836,  was  printed 
"  The  Hundredth  Psalm,  harmonized  on  the  principles 
of  the  '  Dandy  Sublime?  and  dedicated,  with  every  ap- 
propriate feeling,  to  those  ' profound  musicians'1  who 
consider  bold  progressions,  and  daring  harmonies,  in 
plain  English,  unnatural  modulations,  and  extrava- 
gant discords,  as  the  only  tests  of  fine  composition ;  by 
Thomas  Adams." 

The  burlesque  is  very  cleverly  done,  and  displays 
the  tact  of  the  eminent  organist,  whose  name  is  affixed 
to  it.  He  deserves  the  thanks  of  every  lover  of  pro- 
priety in  the  performance  of  psalmody.  The  caricature 


50  THE    OLD   HUNDREDTH   PSALM    TUNE. 

was  well-timed,  for  Mr.  Adams  well  knew  that  no- 
where is  psalmody  so  disgraced  by  the  freaks  and  fan- 
cies of  piano-forte  organists,  as  it  is  in  and  about  the 
metropolis.*  Judging  from  the  multitudinous  manuals 
of  psalmody  which  are  to  be  met  with  in  all  the  larger 
or  more  fashionable  districts  of  London,  it  would  also 
seem  that  those  who  compile  them,  are  emulous  of  little 
else  than  of  introducing  a  style  of  tune  as  much  op- 
posed to  that  of  the  Old  Hundredth,  as  an  Italian  villa 
can  be  to  a  Gothic  cathedral.  But  elsewhere,  there 
are  indications  of  high  improvement,  and  of  a  well- 
tempered  determination  to  carry  it  on.  May  it  ad- 
vance to  the  edification  of  worshippers,  and  to  the 
glory  of  the  Triune  God ! 

In  closing  this  brief  history,  the  author  wishes  it  to 
be  distinctly  understood  that  he  lays  no  claim  to  origin- 
ality in  attributing  the  Old  Hundredth  Psalm  Tune  to 
Franc  of  Geneva.  Other  authors  have,  in  a  general 
way,  attributed  it  to  him,  but  none,  it  seems,  have  at- 

*  London  has  long  been  notorious  for  a  bad  style  of  psalmody,  both 
with  organists  and  singers,  in  its  parish  churches.  Screaming  char- 
ity-children, and  noisy  organists,  were  the  bane  of  divine  service  to 
such  an  extent,  that  Bishop  Porteus,  at  the  close  of  the  last  century, 
made  salutary  efforts  for  correcting  the  evil.  But,  even  so  early  as 
the  beginning  of  that  century,  the  mode  of  "giving  out  "  a  tune,  as  it 
was  called,  discovered  the  worst  possible  taste  in  the  organists  of  the 
day,  as  a  publication  of  Daniel  Purcell  (the  brother  of  the  illustrious 
Henry)  remains  to  prove.a  It  seems  as  though  the  utmost  pains 
were  taken  to  disguise  the  melody  by  all  sorts  of  harpsichord  flourish- 
es, and  meretricious  ornaments. 


•  "The  Psalms  set  full  for  the  Organ  or  Harpsichord,  as  they  are  played  in 
churches  and  chappels,  in  the  manner  given  out ;  as  also  with  their  interludes 
of  great  variety,  by  Mr.  Daniel  Purcell,  late  Organist  of  St.  Andrew's,  Hoi- 
bourn." 


THE    OLD    HUNDREDTH    PSALM    TUNE.  51 

tempted  to  secure  the  fame  of  it  for  him,  by  showing 
that  it  cannot,  with  fairness,  be  attributed  to  any  one 
else. 

From  what  has  been  adduced,  it  is  hoped  that  the 
vexata  qucestio  as  to  the  authorship  of  the  tune,  may 
now  be  regarded  as  fairly  settled.  There  is  no  evi- 
dence that  it  originated  with  either  Luther  or  Goudi- 
mel ;  but  there  is  reasonable  proof  that  it  did  originate 
with  Franc. 

The  only  claim  to  originality  which  the  writer  of 
these  pages  ventures  to  advance,  is  grounded  on  the 
discovery  of  the  sources  from  whence  Franc  derived 
the  phrases  of  the  tune.  Those  phrases  are  so  palpa- 
bly Gregorian,  that  Franc's  construction  of  the  tune 
can  be  regarded  only  as  a  fragmentary  compilation. 

Considered,  then,  as  Gregorian  in  its  texture,  the 
Old  Hundredth  Psalm  Tune  is  indeed  very  old,  much 
older  than  is  commonly  imagined.  Its  several  strains 
had  been  sung  by  Christian  voices  not  only  a  thousand 
years  before  Luther  was  born,  but  for  centuries  before 
the  Papal  system  was  developed. 

Viewed  in  this  light,  the  old  tune  assumes  a  new 
interest,  and  its  antique  tones  vibrate  with  freshened 
impulse.  May  the  fervor  with  which  it  used  to  be 
sung  at  Paul's  Cross,  soon  after  its  first  importation 
into  England,  be  speedily  revived  in  all  our  parish 
churches. 


SPECIMENS 


OLD   HUNDREDTH   PSALM  TUNE 


i. 

PSALM   c.      From  the   Brazenose    Copy   of   DAY'S   "Musical  Psalter."     1563. 

W.  PARSONS. 


11 


tr-g- 

u  : 


f- 


o 


FT 


PT7  I     i 


ii. 

A  DITIE,  to  be  svng  of  Musiciena  in  the  Mornyng,  at  theyr  Lord  or  Master's 
chamber-door,  or  elswhere,  of  him  to  be  heard.  From  HALL'S  "  Courte  of  Ver- 
tue."  1665. 


rtOv|v        TT^rt                v        0      1 

a  nz     °   o   A 

?!              i--T?                                  • 

1  1                       <> 

i                      •         '        '       1       1 

The  dauning  day  be-  gins  to  glare,   And  Lu  -  ci 

-  fer  doth  shine  on    hie  : 

til"      °       P      P      P      P 

ri              (0           P 

H 

\           °      1     -       -  --P-      ! 

_&^   fz   (2.   p.^\>A-   LL 

U                                           ' 

1 

And  saith  that  Phebus  doth  prepare   To  shew  himself  im  -  me-diate-ly. 


THE  OLD  HUNDREDTH  PSALM  TUNE. 


m. 

The  two  extant  parts  of  WILLIAM  DAMAN'S  Version.     1579. 

11 


-b 


I  I    '  I 


B 


s 


f 


IV. 

PSALM   cxxxiv.     CLAUDE  GOCDIMEL.    Printed  at  Paris,  by  ADRIAN   LE   ROY. 
1565.     Also  in  a  German  Psalter  (Bodleian  Library),  printed  at  Herborn,    1595. 


~9 — ~^\     7*2 ~rj      "zj~ 


Si 


&—&—- 


g^fc- 


-&- 


-&- 


U-4-JM- 


p  i   r 


tb±s=5: 


3 


.ffi.4 


•<? 


J;  .  .i  i  n 

*  ^  *  [,      O       Q  -Q       Q         O 


P 


LX        ^^  '    ^     '^^- 


V. 

From  ESTE'S  "Psalter."    1592.    "  J.  DOULAND,  B.  of  Musicke." 


^ 


^zdzznuE 

^M2_s3E 


33t 


1 


o    ^_<J  "-' 


,  ,  TT^ 
iii  i  i  i 


-&-. 


r 


-&—pr 


-&—&- 


-G 


!  i  i  .U-^ 

^_-6L_j»-  ^^p     ^^p 


THE  OLD  HUNDREDTH  PSALM  TUNE. 


55 


eiE 


-%=&-=££ 
•o~~1 — IZT-T- 


YI. 

From  RAVENSCEOFT'S  "  Psalter."    1621.    lOOxn  Ps.     "J.  DOULAND,  Doct.  of  M." 


•e-f-0- ,  I         -P-0-    -•*-   -s 


=t 


^2* 


P^  ^a^r^-i  e  j  ^n=^ 

i)     j=.,g_gigre±^.;r o  _?5rp— ^zg^p; 

^rnTTf^    fi  '  *r 

^^A^- 


Ji^a-sUc^ 
^.    -^-^ 


3 


.a 


VII. 

From  the  same.     A  PSALM  BEFORE  EVENING  PBAYER.      "Tnos.  RAVENSOEOFT, 

B.  of  M." 


rs332 


=ffi 


-&-&-&-&  i^—  i  • 

i    I   '      r    *x 

^^iiiEr 


IJ^IL^IZ^-. 


i         1      I       I       TV 


-^— S-5- 


Behold,  now  give  heed,  such  as  be  The  Lord's  servants,  faithful  and  true : 


56 


THE  OLD  HUNDREDTH  PSALM  TUNE. 


f^=^^S-S^^±=St±^=^==-^±^:fi 


Come,  praise  the  Lord,  every  degree, With  such  songs  as  to  Him  are     due. 


VIIL 


PSALM    cxxxiv.     From    French    Psalter.      Geneva:    1627.       Leyden:     1635. 
CLAUDE  LE  JEUNE. 


3 


-& 

^"l5"" 


I 


"3~d 


« 


6>—X~-±—& 


af 


zMzfc 


^=?=f 


3=Z 


±fe 


<>- 


& 


:s: 


P 


-22- 


'2. 


IX. 


From  the  Scotch  Psalter.    Printed  at  Edinburgh,  by  ANDEO  HAKT,  1635. 


s 


-S>-  — --£ 
I          |        I        i 


i 


-^L 


THE  OLD  HUNDREDTH  PSALM  TUNE. 


J — Ln  ni_e_22 

EzgEEtd^- 


r 


-&- 


-&-  -o- 


!EE£3E 


x. 


PSALM  c.    From  a  MS.  in  Christ  Church  Library.    Oxford    WM.  LAWES.    1640. 


v— \ 

J — « — 


\ — i- 


— P — <s>— ? 


— i 1 o — £•£- 


-l 1 e>- 


1 


XI. 


PSALM   c.     From  PLAYFOKD'S  "Psalms  and  Hymns  in  Solemn  Music."    Folio. 


Altns. 


j — 1-r 

:t_s g7~o  x 


r=^=4 


Contra  T. 


f 


-&--&-     >- 
I        I 


-<S»- 


-?2- 


THE  OLD  HUNDREDTH  PSALM  TUNE. 


l_l 


•  -&-•&•-&-• 
~P" 


,: 


o     v     o 


-d- 


r 


XII. 


PSALM   c.     From   PLATFOBD'S   "Whole  Book  of  Psalms,"  composed  in  three 

parts.     1680. 


4ft 


sgw 


J=y 


<S> — O-O 


*  Si    cy~Fr~'  T?5    "r?  'Q  r-cy~r-°>    ^   ^  i    IZSI— -233CII 

*u.iTr»  P  1 1      ^   gj   I       I  I  p   f-^   & 2tj 

'irT^^^-f^F-^k^l^^       -Cd± 


p 


•0 


i 


xni. 

PSALM  omiv.    From  a  German  Psalter,  "  David's  Jewels." 
CHRISTIAN  MVLLER.     1703. 


fe 


=fc 


_0  ifc  — • — J-!-=t 1 =Zt 


THE    OLD    HUKDKEDTII   PSALM   TUNE. 


59 


Tfi*—  dr^ 

3 

H— 

—  1-&  — 

-S* 

:0    g- 

i=ftt 

\Y  G 

56 

-&—&    t 

5 
56      43 

H   l« 

r\'*                 &  | 

1 

Ei      | 

".  _J  .J     I 

eEi  c>  ^ 

C>    (2 

S 

is: 

XIV. 

PSALM  c.    DANIEL  PUECELL,  circ. :  1700. 


• — !2igiJBB"-Jfc" 

^ >^ fl= L«- 


I — 1 — 1 — I- T" 


0 


J- 


— (9- 


— T 


122: 


60 


THE  OLD  HUNDREDTH  PSALM  TUNE. 


H44-h 


rf^r1*^^ 
M  rnr ^H-M 


-P- 


THE  OLD  HUNDREDTH  PSALM  TUNE. 


61 


atdzdfctt 


^=P=£ 


^T          ~^  lf~3     I 


-&- 


XV. 


PSALM  o.    From  the  Supplement  to  the  new  Version.     1710. 


^=t 


^ — ^ 


s 


t=t= 


±3 


-H — f- i n 1 — G—G — <S>~| 1 «- 

gSEEt       z^z^g—t^f 

SF^itszztn  =3E3 


^^t3 


1 


SM 


i 


62 


TIIE    OLD   HUNDREDTH   PSALM   TUNE. 


XVI. 

PSALM  c.    From  "The  Harmonious  Companion."    By  B.  SMITH  and  P.  PBEL- 

LUEE.       1720. 

-i-l.    !    !    i 


p 


-e — &-& 


r 


& 


fc± 


-&d 


-g'-z? 


i 


Sldb^ITaH^-^-dllgzhfcg 


rr  r 


< 


:=- 


XVII. 

PSALM  cxxxiv.     From  JOHN  SEBASTIAN  BACH'S  "  Choral  Gcsang  Buch."     173U. 


P7 


P=F 


M-^ 


/  \.    i  Q  I  I  _  -  •  P  r  F I  ftjT~    *~^T  I        '^^ 

^u.L.fr-^^       §£§§=    ^ 

^  rn      ! ' ! ! ' '  ! '  liLL^^~^^ 


fa 

*-<M- 


m 


zs: 


BE 


J  J  J 


P: 


UT 


^ 


THE    OLD    HUJSTDKEDTH    PSALM   TUNE. 


63 


XYIII. 

PSALM  c.    Mr.  ATISON,  of  Newcastle.     1740. 


— 0-- 


XIX. 

PSALM  cxxxiv.  VON  MVLLEE.  Circ.  1740.  From  Dr.  SUBNET'S  "Mus.  Ex- 
tracts," VII.  The  same  as  in  JOHN  DANIEL  MULLEE'S  "  Choral  Book"  1754. 
British  Museum. 


—\-/£3 _J— — 


=t 


THE   OLD    HUNDREDTH    PSALM    TUNE. 


J/l                             J      X""* 

0               J 

a 

I/l\     ;      ,*-»         (*v       ^•"' 

^^       S~l 

^"^     f~i     ^^ 

^•^ 

J  fl 

1 

/  "\  •  1L                        ^^ 

1 

^  -*  *  ff    (^       **""> 

__ 

*-^ 

_t±  —  ^d  —  C2  —  ^i_ 

<^  , 

2 

a 


XX. 

PSALM  c.     Rev.  JOHN  CHETHAM  (Yorkshire).     Circ.  1740. 


F== 

j-o  j 


o 


?^ 


:^ 
3=L 


i 


tit 


j  •  i  <s>- 


^=t^- 


TT 


'rTr 


ILL 


i 


T 


C3         ,-.     i    ^ 


XXI. 

PSALM  cxxxrv.     From  an  edition  of  the  Genevan  Psalter.    London.     1757. 


7f~~f|T  P     p    Q     J  O- 

(o  y         r^o^ 


° 


THE  OLD  HUNDREDTH  PSALM  TUNE. 


65 


-&-  -&• 


m 


m 


XXII. 


PSALM  c.     From  Mr.  MATTHEW  WILKINS'  "  Book  of  Psalmody."     Great  Milton, 

Oxon.     1775. 


aTj 
• 


, 


L<s»- 


^E3p==t 


r 


./Q  L^>          *~* 

~C7  ~r~x»i      <— ^ — 


lil  THE    OLD    HUNDREDTH   PSALM   TUNE. 

J  w 

XXIII. 

THE  HUNDREDTH  PSALM,  from  examples  and  directions  for  a  hundred  different 
harmonies,  by  A.  F.  KOLLMAN,  organist  of  Her  Majesty's  German  Chapel,  at 
St  James.  Circiter,  1802. 

— £ — 


i  h<i 
rjzfcd cL 


^=CI 


-& — — — -e — &- 

f — F3? — F 

/TN        I 


=p=ir==£=ir= 


-~P^p--= 


-<^ 


-&- 


SYNCOPATION. 


I _  U~-N  I I 

& —  •f-fS'— — G^\-& & — 

— i — I=P — r^-i 1 — 


_ 

'    i  • ^3 

~^j~* —  — fcy        •       f 


r  -r 


XXIV. 


PSALM  c.     "  Collection  of  Old  Psalm  Tunes."    Dr.  CROTCH.     1803. 


THE  OLD  HUNDREDTH  PSALM  TUNE. 


fc=R=± 


E=l 

Q   I 


221 


~    g    J     -?^ 


i 


r<S>- 


-.i 


^ 


"P- 


XXV. 

PSALM  c.    From  J.  GOTTLOB  WEENER'S  Choral  Book.    Leipzig.     1815. 


2 — sH r^«-r — ^^   ^   L«^  •  «*T  I 

—j       ^^1-j. 


-^ 


ii 


f 


i    i  i 


— H — HP^^    "'"" ''    '  •• 


f- 


BEi 


THE    OLD    HUNDREDTH    PSALM   TUXE. 
'•ill 

izbra: 


i 


XXVI. 

PSALM  c.     Harmonized  on  the  principles  of  the  "  Dandy  Sublime." 
THOMAS  ADAMS.     1836. 


TtHfF=F   p   f  ftCb'1^  i 


T*P  i     i-rrm"^1"!  i  i  k.  J  i..«g~^TtiT 
rff  'j 

r-rrtt-tt-J- 

^^ 


I     -&-         rf'-^A      y^"  M  V~^ 


j  i 

J 


THE    OLD   HUNDKEDTH   PSALM   TUNE.  69 

XXVII. 

QUAKTETT  in  Gresham  Prize  Anthem,  by  Rev' A  "W.  H.  HAVEEGAL.     1843. 


4— e— -ri 1 — sM -&— ~  — ^- <S— ;-3 

e^ C-£ — a — o —— —          _l-/Q /Q S — £•£ — f^t _ 


Sing  unto  him,  sing  psalms  un-to    him ;  talk  ye  of   all   his  wondrous  works. 


Sing  unto  him,  sing  psalms  un-to  him;  talk  ye    of  all  his  wondrous  works. 


XXVIII. 

From  "  Old  Church  Psalmody."     1 847. 


I      ' 
SLffl 


—.  - 


T 


?-r~— — ~ r  o    r-zz2 

3En=rEE^t^E 


p+^p— g 


i       ~r 


n 


REMARKS    ON    THE    SPECIMENS, 


NUMBERS  1,  4,  5,  6,  7,  8,  9.  In  these  seven  speci- 
mens the  musical  observer  has  an  opportunity  of  com- 
paring the  skill  and  the  tact  of  some  of  the  great 
masters  of  harmony  in  the  earlier  days  of  Psalmody. 
A  comparison  between  Numbers  1  and  4,  the  earliest 
English  and  the  earliest  French  version,  will  furnish 
some  curious  coincidences.  It  is  singular  that  Parsons 
and  Goudimel  should  have  struck  on  so  many  points  in 
common,  as  it  can  hardly  be  supposed  that  Goudimel 
was  acquainted  with  Parsons's  composition.  The  F 
penultimate  in  the  second  strain  of  Number  1  was  most 
likely  sung  sharp,  as  in  Goudimel's  version.  This, 
however,  is  a  point  open  to  debate. 

No.  5.  This  version  of  Dowland's  was  popular  up  to 
the  last  days  of  such  singing  in  England.  The  simpli- 
city and  easy  flow  of  its  parts  rendered  it  acceptable 
to  our  parish  choirs. 

No.  6.  Dowland  adopted  this  version  of  the  melody 
probably  in  compliance  with  the  wishes  of  the  Editor 
and  his  friend,  Thomas  Ravenscroft.  While  the  varied 
style  attests  his  command  of  ideas,  the  more  artful  text- 
ure of  the  parts  shows  his  skill  as  a  harmonist. 

No.  7.  In  this  version  Ravenscroft  seems  to  have 


72  REMARKS    ON    THE    SPECIMENS. 

taken  Dowland  as  his  master,  as  it  contains  palpable 
imitations  of  his  style.  Spite  of  faulty  consecutives  in 
the  third  strain,  the  parts,  particularly  the  Bass,  are 
elegantly  melodic. 

No.  8.  This  version,  only  barred  in  modern  fashion, 
is  given  by  Dr.  Burney  in  his  History*  of  Music.  It 
proves  what  was  commonly  asserted,  that  Claude  le 
Jeune  was  a  great  master  of  harmony.  It  differs  from 
every  other  specimen  in  the  rich  and  masculine  turn 
given  to  the  end  of  the  first  strain.  In  Dr.  Burney's 
Musical  Extracts,  belonging  to  the  British  Museum, 
there  is  an  abbreviated  version  of  this  tune,  the  time 
being  reduced  to  one  half  of  its  original  measure.  By 
whom  this  abbreviation  was  made,  whether  by  Claude 
le  Jeune  himself,  Dr.  Burney,  or  any  other  professor, 
does  not  appear.  Claude  le  Jeune  composed  another 
set  of  three  parts  to  the  tune,  and  published  them  at 
Paris  in  1608.  They  are  at  once  so  ornate,  and  yet  so 
loosely  put  together,  that  the  present  writer  has  never 
been  able  to  score  them  in  an  intelligible  manner. 

No.  9.  The  first  strain  of  this  setting  bears  a  strong 
resemblance  to  the  first  strain  of  Number  4.  The  sec- 
ond strain,  however,  contains  a  feature  which  distin- 
guishes it  from  all  its  fellows,  viz.,  a  modulation,  by 
contrary  motion,  into  the  scale  of  the  minor  seventh,  a 
transition  common  in  old  music,  and  especially  notable 
in  Orlando  Gibbons's  service  in  F. 

No.  12.  Playford  intended  the  middle  part  of  this 
setting  to  be  sung  by  either  treble  or  tenor  voices. 

The  unprepared  seventh  in  the  fourth  strain,  is  one 

of  Playford's  oversights. 

4 


REMARKS    ON    THE    SPECIMENS.  73 

No.  13.  The  punctuation  of  this  version  is  as  unac- 
countable as  it  is  unique. 

No.  14.  The  absurdity  and  ill  taste  of  this  specimen 
of  "  Giving  out,"  as  it  was  called,  will  strike  every 
person  who  has  not  been  previously  acquainted  with 
the  vitiated  practices  of  the  English  organ  school,  a 
century  and  a  half  ago,  when  the  evil  seeds  which  had 
been  sown  on  the  restoration  of  the  second  Charles  had 
attained  their  full  blossom.  The  malpractices  of  that 
age  had  not  ceased  at  even  the  beginning  of  the  pres- 
ent century.  The  custom  of  interluding  a  flourish  at 
the  end  of  every  strain  in  a  tune,  is  still  rife  on  the 
Continent,  and  is  not  quite  extinct  in  our  metropolis. 

No.  16.  The  book  from  which  this  is  taken  had  a 
wide  circulation.  The  arrangement  of  the  parts  to  the 
tune,  is  made  out  of  the  second  specimen  from  Playford, 
No.  13. 

No.  20.  The  reverend  composer  of  this  version,  was 
as  an  oracle  for  psalmody  in  Yorkshire.  This  volume 
of  tunes  reached  eleven  or  twelve  editions.  The  au- 
thor has  not  met  with  any  earlier  edition  than  the  fifth ; 
neither  has  he  been  successful  in  obtaining  any  bio- 
graphical information  respecting  Mr.  Cheetham,  whose 
fame  is  not  yet  extinct  in  his  native  county.  His  ver- 
sion of  the  Old  Hundredth  is  truly  respectable,  and  his 
introduction  of  a  minor  third  on  the  dominant  in  the 
last  strain,  savors  of  "  sweet  antiquity,"  and  shows  a 
master-hand.  No  other  specimen  contains  a  similar 
instance. 

No.  22.    Mr.  M.  Wilkins  was  a  worthy  man  and  a 
respectable  musician.     He  taught  many  choirs  in  the 


74  REMARKS    ON    THE    SPECIMENS. 

neighborhood  of  Great  Milton,  and  usually  printed  his 
own  books  at  home.  This  version  of  the  tune  is  a 
mere  abbreviation  of  Dowland's,  in  Ravenscroft's  vol- 
ume. The  author,  when  very  young,  often  heard  it 
sung  by  the  Milton  choir  at  the  beginning  of  the  pres- 
ent century.  It  is  the  only  specimen  of  such  singing 
which  he  remembers  ever  to  have  heard.  The  fall  of 
the  treble  voice  to  an  octave  in  the  beginning  of  the 
second  strain,  and  the  rustic  pomposity  with  which  it 
was  achieved,  made  an  indelible  impression  on  his 
mind. 


THE   END. 


University  of  California 

SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 

Return  this  material  to  the  library 

from  which  it  was  borrowed. 


HAY    7199U 
NOV5    1990 


Semi - 
NOV5    1990 
URTD  MUS-OT 

APR  2  5  1PqQ 


• 

MI 

3186 

H29h 


UC  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY 'FACILITY 


A     000  255  332     9 


